The Present
by Mudora
Summary: Midna has destroyed the mirror of twilight, ready to leave everything behind for her people. But soon after her safe return home, she finds that Link has left her a little present. The kind of present that Midna did NOT expect. Link and Midna.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Well, I couldn't go on much longer without uploading something about Link and Midna. It took me a while to come up with a story that I liked... but then I came up with this. Not much to say at this point other than let it explain itself, so please enjoy. Comments are always appreciated. I like to know if my ideas are good or not. Well, read on!

Chapter 1: Unexpected

"_The Council Room is abnormally hot…,"_ Midna, the Queen of Twilight thought as she was fanning herself with one of the many important documents that lay before her in an attempt to describe all the horrible damages that Zant had caused during the war. She was right to think this, considering she could feel the sweat running down her back and chest, attempting to cool her off. However, when she scanned the rest of her council members, Devind, Warren, Silvix, Maria, Raygen, and Skypher, it appeared that all seemed to be fine. All of them were taking little notice of her slight discomfort as five of her council members listened to Skypher babble on about improving conditions of her subjects since Zant's defeat.

Midna was truly grateful that her society was once again on it's way to returning to the way it was, but at the moment she could care less because she _was so damn hot. _

The queen guessed it was just her, considering nobody else seemed to be taking up any random paper to cool themselves down. She did realize that as she made her artificial wind that the heat felt more internal than external. "_Perhaps,"_ she reasoned with herself, "_I'm getting sick?" _but the idea seemed rather strange to her. Sickness did not exist in the Twilight Realm…

As Skypher moved on to talk about the state of the housing for the Kingdom, Midna wondered if she contracted something from the world of light… but it had been three and a half months since she had been there and if she was sick, she would have gotten it a lot sooner than this late.

Of course, it wasn't just the heat that was bothering her.

She undeniably felt very queasy; she was trying to make the feeling go down with deep intakes of breath, but the results weren't helping her situation in the slightest. In fact, it seemed like it was only getting _worse _as she breathed on, her fan moving ever faster and faster as the feeling of nausea continued to rise in the pit of her stomach.

Needless to say _something _was wrong. Her council members didn't seem to pay attention, considering Midna was well known for doing anything to get out of a council meeting. She did know they were important after all… but all them were just borings speakers. All the members were fairly old, except Warren, and each had a voice that could even put dead people to sleep. Skypher, at the moment, was making a wonderful example as he drawled on about matters with little importance to the queen. She knew that her people were doing just fine and fully intended to help them in any way possible. Of course, it was just so hard to listen to what was of great importance when she was just so _damn _hot.

_"What did Link call this again?" _Midna thought to herself, remembering the ways of the light through the eyes of her hero, "_A… fever?" _

Midna remembered the first time she witnessed the young hero's frailty when they had finally gotten out of a storm that lasted three days in Hyrule field. The queen could hardly forget the chilling nights of the eastern part of the kingdom…

Needless to say, considering Midna's cruelty at the time, she had driven Link to the brink to keep on moving. It didn't matter if was raining, didn't matter if the wind was bitterly cold ("_Oh I wish I was in that wind again_," Midna thought as the fan continued to speed up), didn't matter if he was beginning to stagger on his own two feet… at that time, Midna wanted nothing more than to get the fused shadows to kill the usurper King. The Hero was more or less a tool in a an entire mean to get what she wanted; that all changed when the rain finally stopped and Link, the strongest little light boy she had ever seen since she got there, collapsed without warning onto the wet grass. She remembered that she went into sort of a stupid banter about him being tired… remembered kicking him in the ribs slightly; shook him with every last fiber she had in her, but the boy would not get up.

"Midna," he had groaned after she was done, "Please… stop…"

"What for?" Midna, the snooty imp had replied, "So you can _sleep?_ I simply can't allow it for a slave of mine."

"Midna…," he had replied weakly, the hero closing and opening his eyes slowly. He did look pretty tired, "Please… I can't go on… I need to rest…"

The imp had raised an eyebrow at this and then audibly questioned what was wrong. Link then promptly began taking off all of his equipment and clothing, save his pants.

"I have a fever…"

"What the _hell _is a fever?"

Link had promptly told her that he was burning up from the inside, and the imp actually touched the hero's brow like he asked.

She felt quite shocked to say the least. She didn't know men could die from something their own body conjured up.

The Queen always wondered what it was like for Link… of course, now she was promptly forgetting that as the nausea brought the poor twili out of her distant memories of the light world back into her own with a sickening lurch that almost gave her a sense of vertigo. That's the moment she decided she needed to go and lay down.

"- and the house of the moon will be assisting in the whole reconstruction project. We'll have more bodies willing and able within the… your majesty?"

At Skypher's address, Midna looked up to find that all six heads of her council were quietly looking at her in mild concern.

"You're majesty, you look deathly pale… are you alright?" Skypher asked, furrowing his dark brow.

"I… uh…," Midna stuttered, "I-I think I need to lay down."

The queen was appalled at the sound of her voice; it ebbed and flowed with weariness that she was not willing to show. She wondered if this was how Link felt back in that part of the eastern field. Her mind slowly began to drift to ideas of her laying in her bed sleeping.

"I'm sorry my council," Midna said, swallowing down a weird substance that was bubbling in her throat, "I… I am not well at the moment… I… I need to go and rest… perhaps we should… post pone…"

The queen of the Twilight didn't even finish her order before she stumbled out of her chair. The Twili attempted to get to the door of the council chamber but found she simply did not have the strength to do it, her knees buckling under her light frame. Her body wanted to do something completely different.

Now, Midna had seen Link through thick and thin… and remembered a situation like this in which the hero had completely keeled over and made the most horrible noise she had ever heard. It almost sounded like he was pulling out one of his own organs. In Midna's memory, Link had been stabbed by the great King of bokoblins in a pretty rough spot and once he had brought the little boy Colin back, he promptly fell off of his horse and crawled to all fours, spewing out blood from his insides in an act so violent, Midna couldn't call it anything but heinous.

She wondered what that had felt like too… but she was soon finding out.

Her body had put all of it's efforts into her abdomen and she, the Queen, suddenly felt the urge to throw up.

She thought bitterly in her head that if Link was there, he would be rubbing her back gently, watching in modesty, and not addressing the act at all. However, the Twili, considering they never got sick, watched in stunned silence as the Queen emptied her already empty stomach.

"Get… get _somebody!_" Warren's voice called out as soon as the wretched bile hit the floor.

Midna's body didn't seem satisfied, and she continued to heave…

For some strange reason, she felt undeniably famished.

Guards had burst into the room, probably from Warren's request, and gently lifted the poor Queen from the floor, the strength in her legs slowly returning and the nausea going down slightly. Though she felt a little better, the room still spun in a disarray of dark colors with random bright blue and red lights.

"You know," Midna said, someone beginning to gently wipe her mouth with a soft, wet cloth, "Now would be a really great time to invest in a Twili doctor…"

"We'll send for one immediately your majesty… just try not to do that thing again…"

Whosever voice it was, Midna wasn't sure. She decided to just close her eyes and wait for the soft sanctuary of her bed. As they moved around the castle, she swore she could sense other Twili's eyes on her, probably wondering why she was in such a sad state. She didn't know herself why, but she couldn't get over the fact that the event was a little embarrassing, and could send any man's pride down the river. Link's pride certainly did that after he had spewed his inner fluids mixed with stomach crap onto the ground. At that time, Midna had been so confused as to why he did that, but in the ways of the world of light, people who did not know quickly learned what needed to be done in situations such as those.

Midna began to wonder in her delirium if Link had felt this empty after he had thrown up… this tired… this vulnerable.

Knowing the hero… he probably had.

* * *

_"It was the day he almost died…,"_ Midna thought as her dream began to turn into a vision of the past. She dreamed about her past experiences often, fondly remembering the days Link and hers truly adventured to save the things that they loved.

"_By the gods I was such an idiot…"_

The scene down below her was an all too familiar one as she saw her now past Imp form swarming around Link's practically lifeless body in one of the many abandoned rooms in Kakariko's decimated inn. Colin, the little boy that Link had recently saved was in another room, his wounds nothing compared to the now naked hero. Renado was treating him as best he could; various instruments were strewn about him… most of it was cleaning supplies. Midna's nose flared at the smell of alcohol and blood, and she decided quickly that she did not like the combination.

Link seemed to be in a dazed stupor as Renado slowly worked his doctor prowess on the tired young man. Almost every part of the hero seemed to be covered with bruises and minor scrapes… but the biggest wounds where arrow punctures and the wound that Renado was treating near his gut. Midna could still see half of an arrow stuck in Link's bare thigh, the twisted and dark looking thing digging itself deeper into the leg every time the boy twitched with the burn of alcohol. However, Midna knew somehow that the arrow was the least of Link's problems.

The Shaman had already taken out two more arrows from Link's left arm and right shoulder, the holes in his skin already covered up by bandages that had heavy cleaning herbs underneath them. Now he was working on the one that was really giving Link grief… the slice across his middle. Midna had remembered when he got the wound. He sustained it right before he made the King of the boar riders topple off into the abyss that was known as the Death Mountain Fissure. Either way, the wound had cut Link deep, leaving a nice fissure of his own, oozing blood with every second it took to get the unconscious Colin back to the ravaged village.

Midna looked down at herself once more as her shadow form hovered over said wound, inspecting it curiously and even worriedly. Link tiredly blinked up at the unseen image of the imp, wondering what she was doing. The Queen sat in the air, now fully beginning to reminisce in the memory.

The imp's little fingers slowly touched the angry flesh of Link's the same time Renado decided to get more cleaning alcohol, and the hero winced at both touches; however he gave no audible indication he was in pain. In fact, the entire time they had been there Link didn't utter a word to anyone. Whether he was too weak to cry out or not, nobody was certain.

However, the imp Midna knew that the wound had taken it's toll on her one and only helper.

The memory seemed to fast forward a little bit now, showing that Link did slowly recover, but the Queen knew what was about to happen. Link had left Kakariko without a word, sending the children and Renado into a panic as to where the healing farm hand went off too. Of course, no one knew that Link had been taking orders from a pompous little imp who was really the Twilight Princess. Although, Link didn't know she was a princess either, but she followed her anyway, knowing that he still needed to save one of his friends from the village of Ordon. Poor Ilia was still missing, and the cruelty that the imp played on the hero was tenfold when he taunted him in his bed over and over about how she was still in the depths of the Twilight infected Hyrule.

So, the Ordonian decided to leave Kakariko behind, his wounds still healing.

Then that's when the storm hit.

It rained for three days and two nights, making the path they followed turn into the worst kind of mud possible, making the idea of riding Epona the impossible. Link had no choice but to walk on foot as the wind and rain battered him on all sides. He had thrust his hands into his armpits in an attempt to stay warm, but nothing seemed to help when one was soaking wet and already chilled to the bone. The storm had taken it's furry and battered it on Link, making him fall in the mud several times before they finally reached the end of the field, closer to the wall of twilight that loomed over the horizon.

That's when Link plopped down to the ground like a discarded rag doll; then the fever set in.

For the longest time, the imp Princess didn't know what to do.

_"I was such a fool…,"_ Midna thought as she watched herself trying to bring the Hero's fever down.

It wasn't until Link was practically dead that Midna had discovered the source of his sudden illness. The wound in his gut had gotten infected with mud and dirt, and the bandages were soaked to the brim, making an odd stink in the back of the imp's throat. Midna had been too scared to unwrap the bandages, fearing that she would see something she didn't ever want to see.

Instead, she all but _dragged _the hero to the Twilight portal. There was no way to get Link back to Kakariko in his condition, and horse whistle grass was nowhere to be seen; therefore, all Midna could do was hope that the sacred wolf sleeping within Link would take care of the rest.

Midna smiled as the memory ended…

Link was not very happy when he woke up that next day. But he was grateful non-the-less.

* * *

The Queen's eyes fluttered open from the dream, her vision now collecting the images carved into the ceiling of her royal bed-chamber. They were intricate and beautiful; the carvings themselves held no meaning to the Twili queen, but they calmed her with their eerie blue glow that matched the markings on her own body.

The first thing she noticed was that she was no longer feeling the nausea that she felt earlier. In fact, she felt quite fine. Midna half expected that she would have woken up in the same sorry state, but someone must have gotten a doctor.

The Queen decided to slowly sit up, holding her head as she did so to remain steady, and was very quickly greeted by many pairs of eyes, anxiously staring at her. She raised one of her thin eyebrows at them, wondering why in the world that many people were in her quarters. The spectacle would have been rather amusing from another perspective, but Midna was not in the mood to be amused. In fact, she felt quite violated that her personal space was being occupied by the six heads of the council, who she guessed was a doctor, and a few maids who decided to join in.

"Well, I'm very happy you all decided to stay and see if I'm well, but you've really wasted your time," Midna said curtly, her eyes narrowing in annoyance, "I'm sure it's just something minor anyway… I can go back to the meeting."

"Your majesty…," Maria stated awkwardly, her voice quivering with a strange quiet reverence for the queen. Knowing Maria, everyone knew she was rarely that formal with Midna. The queen found it rather odd.

"What?" Midna asked bluntly, "Am I on my death bed?"

"Your majesty," Maria continued, the council hanging on her words as well, as if they themselves were dying to tell her the news. Their expressions varied from happy to curious. The Queen thought for a moment that they were all happy that she was going to die… but needless to say, Maria continued, "You're far from death my dear… in fact it's quite the opposite."

"Cut to the chase Maria… what's going on?"

"My dear… you are pregnant."


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I figured the next part of this wouldn't be too far behind from the first. The idea is still pretty fresh on my mind.

For **Ri2: **Yes, the Twilight don't get sick, but they still have doctors becuase they can still get hurt. Twili can't really take that good care of themselves. Morning sickness also happens. I'm just saying they can't get sick with the flu or something like that. My version is something akin to the fact that their bodies just don't sustain infection. Something like that. :B But yeah, they've got doctors for other reasons.

Alright, well... on with the show!.

Chapter 2: Untouched

The word hung in the air like an unwanted guest overstaying his welcome. Midna's mouth remained closed, but her yellow and blood red eyes remained wide in shock and in disbelief.

"Come again?" Midna asked, her voice uncontrollably high in surprise.

"You're pregnant," The doctor addressed her, bowing to dismiss the in -formalness of his speech, "Which is why you had such a horrible reaction this morning. I suggest food to stop the dry heaves my queen. It will make your life a lot more comfortable."

"I'm. Pregnant." Midna stated again, her mind reeling.

The doctor and her council members nodded.

"Who's the lucky one?" Warren said, but was immediately bored down by Midna's resentful gaze.

She knew who it was.

"Get out." Midna ordered to all of them. It wasn't angry, or annoyed; nor was it really a request. Her voice quivered a little, signaling that she was beginning to feel very upset, or happy.

"Please. Get out." Midna repeated, highly suggesting the first signal.

With that, the doctor, her council members, and some of the maids who watched left the room, giving her peace in her quarters once more. She limply fell back onto her pillows, her eyes glistening with held back love and affection. The feeling of being untouched was slowly getting to her.

Oh how she knew _exactly_ who.

Flashes of the familiar Ordonian moved behind her shut eyes, tears now freely running down her cheeks.

When she shattered that mirror, she knew she had to forget about him; knew that there was no point in crying over lost heroes. She knew she had to leave it all behind for her people, because the one thing that annoyed her about being a royal was that your first love was your subjects, and nothing else could take that position. However, _he _had. The queen grabbed her dark pillows tightly, feeling angry and lust at the same time.

No matter where she went… no matter where she would go, Link always seemed to follow.

"Link I'm so confused," she muttered into her pillow to the air, as if the young man could hear her, "I'm just so confused… did I do the wrong thing? Shattering the mirror?"

As always, Link could not answer her. He wasn't there after all.

Midna choked back a sob at the silence that followed. She obviously knew he was not there, but at the moment she was emotionally compromised, and nobody in their right mind could care less that nobody was there. Least of all the Queen of the Twili.

She decided she was feeling this way, mostly because she had not figured out she was pregnant herself. Most of the time she was so ahead of the game that nothing supposedly new seemed to phase her; because she was prepared, she had no reason to fear. But this? This news? Completely unexpected. Didn't even pay attention. Sometimes she noticed things were a little odd, but, as always she just brushed it off… but now…

But now her memories were drifting off into a specific night before she had shattered the mirror. A night so wonderful… so beautiful, no one could write how wonderful it was… but her mind etched it so deeply into her brain, she knew right then that it was impossible to forget someone that close.

* * *

_"Now that I've lived here for a year, I don't think I'll _ever _get enough of light world food," Midna said, promptly taking a swift bite out of her shiny red apple that gleamed in the fire Link had started soon after they had settled themselves deep within the lost woods. The forest was alive with crickets, evening bird calls, and the night wind billowing through the tree leaves. The moon shone down into the Sacred Grove, it's gleam reflecting on the Master Sword; now back in it's pedestal, the weapon looked peaceful… it had been ready to sleep again for some time and Link had felt the urge to put it back to where it belonged. It didn't seem like he needed it anymore. _

_"Oh really?" Link replied, roasting some Hylian bass over the fire. The smell of the seasoned meat was making Midna's mouth water, "What's the food in Twilight like? It's not like I was there long enough to know." _

_"Meh… kind of boring," Midna confessed, "At least compared to this stuff." _

_Midna took another bite of her apple. _

_Link continued with his cooking routine, completely unaware that the previous imp, now Princess of all Twilight was looking at him, her eyes moving up and down his frame, shaping him up and admiring him. _

_"Are you never going to take that tunic off?" Midna asked, raising a thin eyebrow, "It's like that thing is glued to your skin." _

_"Keh… just fits nice I guess. I put on the Ordon clothes a while back, but… they don't seem to fit me anymore. I grew a little this year." _

_Midna smiled, "That you have my little wolf." _

"God's he's so beautiful…," _the Twilight Princess thought, her eyes glancing him over and over again. Even though his clothes were worn, torn, sewn, and patched up, the hero's old tunic suited him the best out of anything he had gotten in the ways of clothes. Even the ridiculous hat matched that boyish face of his… or at least, his somewhat boyish face. That look was leaving him now, slowly being enveloped by a defined chin and high cheekbones. The look of a man was beginning to appear, and Midna _loved _it. Even though she was technically older than him, even though she was a completely different race, it didn't seem to matter in the scheme of things. _

_Link, was undeniably the man she wanted to curl up with. _

_Not like she hadn't done it before of course… she did it in her imp form… but then it was different. Then they couldn't do anything but sit and stare, holding out their gazes until neither could handle it anymore. Then they couldn't do a single bloody thing about it. She was an imp, he was a human, and that was the end of the discussion; but now, she was as close to human as she was going to get, and somewhere deep in her heart, Midna knew that Link knew what they both wanted. _

_It was just bringing it up that was the problem. Link seemed highly… un emotional in that regard… but perhaps she would change that tonight in the Sacred Grove, the shadow of the Master Sword casting it's slumbering judgment upon them. _

_Suddenly, Midna got an idea. _

_"Hey Link," the Princess said mischievously, her eyes glinting with something akin to playfulness with a darker hint to it, "Want me to tell you a story?" _

_"A… story?" Link questioned, rotating the fish, "Well, we've got the time… don't see why not. Your stories are interesting enough. Better than Shad's" _

_Both laughed at this, but then Midna continued, " Well, then allow me to begin!" _

_The fire cracked as she cleared her throat, settling herself in a cross legged position. _

_"Long ago, or maybe not so long ago, there was a hero. You know how they are those heroes of legend, wearing their green tunics, funny hats, and waving those Master Swords about. He was that kind of guy you know. Don't bother with the name; it's not important. The only thing you need to know was that he did what you did. He saved the land of Hyrule for everyone and him. How, I can't remember… something to deal with rescuing sages and battling shadows and things like that." _

_"Getting to the main point, he was a hero. People loved him for his deeds, and he was constantly bombarded by the masses of the cities, towns, and outposts, hailed as a savior to all. The princess of the land gave him all the honors any knight could dream of… she practically gave him anything he had wanted. However, even with all this fame, glory, and worldly possessions, the Hero was not happy." _

_"Not to mean to say that he _didn't _appreciate all the good and noble gestures to him, but the point is, he didn't feel happy in the slightest with all the attention. You wanna know why? Well, it turns out he was lonely." _

_Link's ears had perked up at this; the story, Midna knew, was probably fairly familiar to him. _

_"So the hero set out on his own personal journey to find something that is the hardest thing to find in all the world. Even harder than the Triforce, because even then, you can still find the bloody thing. You know what he was looking for?" _

_The Ordonian shook his head. _

_"He rode out looking for love. However… it didn't take him long to find it though; considering it's right in front of him." _

_Link's eyes grew wide as dinner plates as he dropped the now finished fish on a wooden surface next to him, his mouth opened slightly. He just stared at her, his blue eyes filled with wonder, excitement, and a mixture of a whole lot of other things. But the one thing that the Twilight Princess could see was one hell of a tired soul. _

_The one thing that Midna knew was the fact that any number of titles, gifts, or rewards the hero would receive for his duties could never repay Link for what he had done for Hyrule. She knew that heroes sold their souls to the Goddesses for eternal salvation; not that heroes were bad souls, but only because they were most loyal to the Goddesses. She knew that these heroes did not, in any way shape or form, have happy lives. She knew that Link knew that they both knew this. Most of all, Midna's _heart_ knew it. And in the end that was all the really mattered. _

_"Are you scared?" Midna asked suddenly, slowly getting up on her hands and knees, crawling towards Link with an affectionate look in her eyes. _

_"Why would I be scared of the best thing that could ever happen to me?" Link questioned. He made no movement toward her. She was a princess after all, and Midna knew he was just being respectful. Even though he just sat there, the words that spilled over his mouth were more than enough information to come to the thought that he actually did have feelings for his little imp. Or rather, his beautiful Twilight Princess. However, Midna knew he loved her no matter what shape she took. _

_Midna was now right in front of her Hero, her arms slowly pulled him down on his backside into the forest's bedding of leaves and debris. She slowly coaxed the hat off of Link's head, so that she could gently run her fingers through the soft blonde strands. Link had closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying the feeling of being softly caressed instead of bombarded by punches, slashes, and the occasional kick to the face. He felt perfectly calm around her; there was nothing to hide from, nothing to kill. Midna hoped he thought that he could put all of his trust in her. _

_"You've changed too you know," Link said in a quiet voice, his eyes still closed, enjoying the Twili's touch. _

_"Meh, maybe a little," Midna confessed. _

_"So… I found love did I?" Link asked, opening one eye to gaze up at the woman who was currently straddling him. _

_"Not just you… love is kind of a pairing thing." _

_The hero grinned. _

_Midna continued her gentle cycle, hair moving up with her movements, then letting it fall freely down in front of Link's eyes. It was rare to see him this relaxed. She doubted anyone had seen her little wolf this way. _

_Which made it all the better to see his reaction once she bent down for the kiss. _

_It wasn't a look of surprise, wasn't a look of disgust (obviously), wasn't a look of absolute lust… but it was the _perfect _look. The look that Midna had been _dying _to get on the ever passive face of Link, the Hero of the two realms for over the past year (Plus or minus a few months of awkwardness.) _

_It was the look of unconditional love that past between both her and him, and nothing seemed to be stopping their infinite tirade of kisses, each one hungrily trying to find some patch of skin on the opposite. _

_Midna was truly happy; happy that for once in her life she got what _she _wanted instead of what some other guy ordered. Happy that she was making her own decisions instead of going through other people's choices. This was what true bliss felt like. _

_And she knew that her Link felt the exact same way because that look was made specifically for her by the Goddesses, and if they denied it at their great judgment day, she simply would call them liars and cast herself down into the eternal blackness of the Dark Realm for eternity just because she called them that. Of course, she was sure Link would cast aside all means of salvation and jump in with her. _

_However, that was the morbid way of looking at it. Somewhere deep in her heart she knew that the Goddesses wanted their heroes to be happy. They were not cruel, lifeless beings who only desired their world to be in perfect balance. They were the epitome of perfect; therefore, she guessed it was about time someone made one of their heroes happy. _

_"You didn't finish the story," Link said in between kisses and pecks on her neck and face. Midna got a bemused look on her features. _

_"Why," another kiss, "You're right I haven't." _

_"Please…," Link said in a desperate whisper, "How does the story end?" _

_Midna grinned. _

_"I believe the story ends with us being naked, intertwined so much that no one would be able to tell who is who." _

_And after she had stated this, the hero and herself gave each other the deepest kiss they could muster. _

_"I think I like the ending," Link added before taking off the first piece of clothing. It wouldn't be the last. _

* * *

It was the most horrible, most absolutely cruel thing that she could have ever done. Not the making of love of course… she could never take that back; but rather, the fact that she was the one who made the separation final. She shattered the mirror right in his face; saw it break into a million pieces and Midna could only lay in wonder at how that must have looked. How that must have _felt _for a man. Not just a man, but the man that was a Hero. _The _hero of the ages.

And now a piece of him was right there with her, inside her womb.

"How the hell did this happen?" Midna muttered to herself, instinctively clutching her flat belly as if to maintain the life that was confirmed to be there.

Indeed, how did it happen? Midna was not even sure Link and she could even _do _that, but in the end, it seemed like they could. "_Fairly successfully,"_ the Twili added.

_"Who's the Lucky one?" _

Midna closed her eyes into her pillow, new tears falling.

None of them were the lucky ones, because Link would never know.

Ever.

* * *

Ordon providence was fairly quiet these days now that the terrible rumble of monster feet was nowhere to be heard. Now-a-days the only sounds were of the small fowl that flew in the mornings and the afternoons, the constant forest breeze carrying the calming sounds to the little village that resided deep within the safety of the green walls. The Village of Ordon carried on with their daily lives, continuing to do their day to day chores as they always had before the bokoblins came to take their precious children away.

The new peace that spanned in the forest and the rest of Hyrule filled the hearts of the Ordonians, and the feeling of safety was a blessing to their secluded little world. No longer did their problems involve princesses, monsters, and spirits waiting to be freed from twilight; instead the children once again played with the monkeys that wandered in time to time, the parents of the children talked of trivial things, and the most action the town got was when Fado let a stampeding goat escape. Things were finally back to the way they were…

Except at the same time, it wasn't the same as it used to be.

For Link of Ordona providence, it would _never _be the same.

Perhaps that was why he had decided to shut himself up in his house and not let anyone in. Perhaps that was why he never answered his door, or calls from Fado to help him with the goats. Perhaps that was why he had never uttered a single word to anyone when he came back from the desert three months ago. Perhaps that was why he never went into town anymore to get himself supplies for daily living.

All the townsfolk whispered worries to one another, but never gossiped; Ordonian's were too good for that sort of thing. Link was a brave young man and had proved it through many hardships over the past year. At least that's what Rusl had told them all. And Rusl was not a liar. They all agreed that the boy seemed to be brooding; brooding over what, none of them knew. Most of them decided that the poor young man was suffering from the things he had seen and needed time to heal… but they probably would never know.

Link was indeed brooding. However, at the current moment he wasn't brooding about the thing he usually brooded over. Instead he was brooding over his oven, watching a pot filled with chicken soup closely, waiting for the perfect moment to take it off the heat. He was a very shabby cook when it came to a stove, and Link had every right to brood over the boiling substance, just to make sure nothing spilled over.

However, when he decided that his work was done and his meal was made, he continued to brood about the previous subject in question: Midna.

It was rather pathetic, he had thought before, how childish it seemed to do this, but he decided to justify it by calling it a right. He was, after all, the Hero; Heroes never did have happy endings.

He decided to think over the common troubles in his mind like he did every day.

As Link ate his chicken soup, he knew he couldn't blame her… couldn't even really come up with a situation where it would have been any different, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

He felt gravely abandoned.

Link suddenly decided that he wasn't hungry anymore, like every other day.

Over the past three and a half months, Link had a lot to think about. That's what he had mostly been doing since he decided to lock himself in his house, never to be bothered by anything remotely resembling monsters, or dark magic ever again. He decided he didn't want it anymore; he knew there was more than just one evil in the world, but even if he was called by the Goddesses he doubted he'd ever answer another call with the same passion he had when the twilight descended upon Hyrule.

Unless it had Midna at the end of it somewhere.

That's what he had been thinking about.

He was thinking about Midna nearly all the time. It didn't matter what he was doing… didn't matter that he burnt toast, eggs, meat, or soup… didn't matter that he never answered his door for anyone anymore… didn't matter that he hadn't touched a goat since last year. The point was, there was a certain Twilight Princess on the brain, and the more he thought about her, the attachment to the Light World grew less.

Ever since the 'incident' at the desert, where Midna had decided to shatter the mirror and his heart, Link had not been the same man, and he knew it. He also knew that everyone else knew it. However, he let them talk and let them be concerned, because that was all he was going to let them have. Nobody knew about Midna, and he decided that no one else other than Princess Zelda herself _could_ know about her. No one would get it; the people would call him a heretic and a traitor. Him? In love with the creatures that attacked Hyrule? A _Twili?_

Link usually scoffed at the prejudice.

However, Link also knew that practically no one had seen a real twilight citizen in the war. He admitted to himself that he wasn't particularly fond of them either when he first met them (I mean who would after being grabbed by a giant pair of hands unwilling into the scary dark portal that took your friends away? Honestly?), but once he saw who they really were… everything could be seen from Midna's perspective.

He wondered if she could see it from his too.

He wished she was there to answer the question. But he knew she would never be able to.

Ever.

The hero laid himself back down on his bed, thinking deeper this time; deeper than he usually did. He wondered if there were other ways into the Twilight Realm…

Midna reminded him that there wasn't any.

Link dragged a pillow from his bed and held it close to him, knowing that nothing else could give the poor boy comfort.

He just wished he could touch her again.

* * *

_"Get up you lazy wolf, it's time to get some fused shadows!" _

Midna's voice always seemed to haunt his dreams.

_"You _stupid STUPID _mutt! Now we're going to have to back track!" _

A snarl, "Only because it's your fault!"

_"Oh you worthless beast." _

"I was never worthless!"

_"Don't look at me like that." _

"I wasn't."

_"Did you get that key?" _

"Of course I did."

_"Where the bloody _hell _are we?" _

"I'm not sure. It's weird though."

_"Link! Behind you! It's-" _

Pain.

_"Link… please… take me to Princess Zelda… hurry." _

A growl, "Anything for your dying wish Midna."

_"I'll break the curse on you Link, I promise." _

A whimper, "I know you can."

_"We're friends now Link. You an me." _

"I know."

_"Link take my hand!" _

"You're too tiny to lift anything up!"

_"Link get up you worthless bastard! You can't die on me! Not now, not ever!" _

"Hold… hold my hand?"

_"Link… Link I love you." _

"Midna… Midna I love you."

_"Heroes where meant to be happy Link. I'm here to keep it that way." _

"You never finished the story."

_"The story never ends you silly wolf." _


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this took so darn long to update. Chapter 3 hit right around mid-terms so I didn't have a lot of time to write between studying and class. But I finally managed to finish this darn chapter. Yay! Oh, and thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, faved, and watched even. I'm surprised that people like my writing all the time, considering I don't think of myself as that good. But, really; thanks guys!

In response to a few questions who I couldn't respond to in the reviews, no Midna was NOT in her imp form when they were together in the Sacred Grove. I though I made that clear, but I guess I didn't. XD Another flaw to my very newish writing style is that I sometimes forget that the reader doesn't know what I am thinking. All well, things slip up I guess.

I believe that was the only question that I saw that really needed to be discussed, so on to other news.

Not sure when chapter four will be up, but it's a good think I have all the chapters outlined, otherwise I would have been walking blind at this point if I hadn't. :B Hurray for outlines I guess.

Please review after you read, it's much appreciated. Gives me a nice boost too. And I'm not saying that just for kicks. It really does lighten my spirits. Sometimes when I read a review I go in to Microsoft Word, my head blazing with ideas that my little fingers love to make. It really gets my heart pumping. Good and feedback goes a long way guys. :)

Thanks again! I'll shut up now so you guys can read.

Chapter 3: Understood

The Twilight Realm soon thundered with rumors from within the Castle walls. The basic gist of it was that the Queen was troubled. _Very _troubled. Troubled about what, no one seemed to know unless you were in the circle, but the stories varied from Twili to Twili. The gossip spread like wild fire to every house, street, and local commune, infecting each of it's citizens with a craze to find out more. Sometimes the variations of what happened became so abstract, they actually became truth. And, well… since all of these were truth, nearly every Twili that had his or her variation of the story were hell-bent on theirs' to be the right one.

"I heard it was that she killed a few guards on accident," one of the many Twili said in the quad that made up the gates to the castle.

"No, no," the other disagreed, waving his hands to make the other Twili forget about the idea, "I heard it was that the guards just pissed her off and she _purposefully _did it."

"Don't be so absurd!" Said another, joining in on the conversation, "She attacked them because they turned into some of Zant's old minions!"

One of them turned an eye on the other, "But, I heard she wasn't even mad. I thought she just let them go."

All of the gossip corners turned out something akin to that, but in truth none of them were correct. However, if you had happened to be in the inner circle during the event, and if you happened to have been in the council chambers, the story would have gone as so:

Midna had told the entire council everything. From who it was, and what for, what she did, and what _he _had done for her. She told them all of their quests, from her nearly dying from the Spirit of Light, to Link's battle with the usurper King Zant. During her retelling of her adventures, the Council had varied faces of disbelief to "how come you didn't tell us sooner?"

No one seemed to say anything for a long while. Everyone was too scared to address her.

"So… you mean to say," Devind said, his tired and old eyes moving up to gaze at the young ruler, "You have a Light World boy's child… not a Twili's?"

"I'm sure I made that pretty clear," Midna replied swiftly, cocking her hip to the side and folding her arms, daring the old man to challenge her judgment in men, "Do you have a problem with it?"

Devind frowned, "I'm just guessing here my queen, but gathering from all the looks the council is giving you, I believe we are a bit… _surprised_."

The Council members nodded in agreement.

"Surprised," Midna repeated, her face unexpressive. A dangerous sign, "I guess that makes you as surprised as I am. But that doesn't mean I'm ashamed for what I've done."

Maria sighed, "The people will be upset. Our queen isn't supposed to look like some gallivanting woman, running down the streets and exposing herself."

Midna literally sneered down at the snobby sounding comment, "_Excuse me?_ You think I just randomly decided to sleep with him? I'm afraid to say that's _not_ how Link and I worked. I'm a queen not a _whore _thank you very much."

"I'm sorry your majesty," Maria said, coughing into her hand as some sort of apology, "I didn't mean it that way… but your people might look at it at a completely different angle."

"Oh like _how_ Maria? _How?" _Midna questioned, raising her hands into the air as if she were giving up to someone, "How in all of the Twilight Realm are they going to take it? Why would they even care! It's not like _they_ are the ones that are pregnant. Why the bloody _hell_ would they care if I have a Light World baby waiting in there till it's ready to pop?"

Maria didn't answer her, but Skypher decided to instead, "Because my queen, in this situation we're not just talking about the general populace… we're also talking about the _nobles. _The one's that support you anyway. Image is a big thing to them, and you all of a sudden ready to bare a child in the Light World's name isn't going to sit very well with them. That's why they have been sending suitor among suitor to your side; it's so your _image _reflects your people."

"No," Midna snapped, "It's so those noble _bastards _can swipe the throne from under me. Not to mention every suitor is _nothing _compared to the one who put this baby in there. They are not brave, loving, caring or anything in between! If you need an example of this, you can take a look at _Zant_; you saw where he brought us. To Ruin. Link on the other hand brought us Salvation. I am _not _going to marry some idiotic _twat _just so I can cover _this _up!" She pointed to her stomach as emphases, making the council members twist in their seats a little uncomfortably.

"My Queen…," Silvix said, her red eyes darting shyly back and forth, "We don't _want _you to feel this upset-"

"I am not upset at all!" The Queen said matter-of-factly, her back suddenly going ridged.

"-We don't want you to feel upset, but… the fact is we're trying to protect your throne right now. We need to get you married, and married soon; If we don't, the noble's will push you off your merry way all because they hate the Light World."

"Oh to all _hell with this_!"

Midna suddenly stomped to the exit of the council chamber, the members of the court swiftly standing up, trying to tell her to come back, but this time the Queen would have none of it. She abruptly stopped her advance just before the closed doors, and turned around looking at every one of her council members in the eye before she stood up strait in defiance.

Warren; He was a good young Twili who respected her. He was the one who practically agreed to anything she would say despite how silly, improper, or just plain psychotic her ideas might have been. He was a good kind soul. One worthy of the title from the Council. An expression of worry was on his face… he was probably torn from the inside out about the issue at hand here. Midna guessed that was probably why he hadn't said much of anything this time.

Skypher; He too was loyal and just. His expertise did not reside in much of anything political, other than what to build where. He was a tactician at best… but he also stuck with protocol and image was something big to him. His saggy middle aged eyes looked fairly disappointed at how she had been acting about this.

Silvix and Maria; They were both obsessed with sticking with tradition above anything else. They hardly seemed happy with her at all, but Maria (who was older than Silvix) seemed more mother like in the way she looked at her Queen. Silvix on the other hand looked positively pissed off. Silvix and Midna were not the best of friends, and it was proving to be quite cumbersome for the Queen.

Devind; The oldest member, and above all probably the most level headed out of the six. His stare was passive and unyielding. Devind was good at not letting onto his emotions when discussing something of great importance. Hence the unemotional gaze he cast on Midna.

All of them; they were a good combination together. Each one had level minds. Each one had good strengths and weaknesses. It was a very good council.

Deep inside, Midna knew they were only trying to keep her on the throne. But some other feeling in her bosom would _not _allow the word 'marriage' to become a second thought. She did not want to be married to some noble brat who thought he was special. She didn't want to keep track of someone who would just get in the way of things.

She guessed Link's influence had gotten to her more than she realized.

However, she didn't seem to mind.

"I do not care what you say, nor do I care how the rules and laws are. I am _not touching another man_."

With that, Midna swiftly turned around, pulling open the doors with her great ancestral magic, making the guards outside look at her with worry.

"Your majesty," the one on the right asked, "Are you alright?"

They both moved on her out of their kindness, but Midna was true to her word. Before they could even gently touch her arms, great ethereal-like appendages rushed out of the Queen's robes, forming into throbbing hands that glowed like the Twilight sky. She grabbed both guards by the neck, and _threw _them to the adjacent wall. The resounding collisions echoed against the halls, shocking the maids and various servants who were unlucky enough to be in the corridor. The Queen knew they would only be slightly sore when they got up.

Now that Midna's path was clear, she briskly walked away from the Council Chamber, leaving her royal members stunned.

"I believe we made her upset," Warren stated, looking very disappointed with himself.

That's when the rumors began of course.

* * *

On the counter by Link's stove there was an unopened letter.

Link didn't care much for visitors or mail after his quest was over; when the very official looking envelope was slipped through the crack underneath the door, Link picked it up, looked at the redish wax seal, and simply placed it down on his counter never to touch it again. It wasn't the fact that he didn't like letters… it was more of who it was from than anything else. The wax seal that was blaring in front of Link's eyes pretty much gave it a dead give-a-way from where the letter had originated.

Princess Zelda.

Now, the young man didn't mind the Princess at all. In fact, they had become fairly close due to their ties with destiny and other various meetings; it was just that whenever Zelda 'needed' him it was for something the Royal Guards couldn't take care of. Something that usually involved fairly heavy steel and iron will; qualities which the guard (at the current time) didn't have.

_The cowardly boys… _

Link had received other letters like this ever since Midna's departure. Those letters he had opened and had swiftly sent letters back declining what the Princess requested. After Midna had left, he decided that he was _not _going to do any more hero work for any Princess ever again.

However, for some uncanny reason, Link had not touched this one. Actually, the letter had been sitting there for a good week or two before the retired Hero even graced the fact that it was there. Even when he did recognize it, he still showed great hesitance in opening it. He had figured that it was going to be another one of those 'requests'; Requests that Link was hardly in the mood for. In the end, Link decided that if Zelda really needed him, she would come for him herself. Yes, it was rather impolite, but the young Hero did not have the greatest manners; no matter who he was acquainted with.

Midna spoiled him that way.

Midna never asked for him to bow to her, never asked for him to kiss her hand for properness… she had only asked him to be her slave.

And, indeed he still was.

Either way, the letter still sat on his counter, slowly gathering a little bit of dust from the neglect. For a minute or two, he just stared at it wondering if opening it was a good idea or not. It wasn't like a bomb was attached to it, or some sort of ice spell trickery (Link had run into a lot of that with chests anyway). For a minute he thought if forgetting about his mail was such a good idea, all in the name of Midna; to mourn what he had lost.

To Link, the letter seemed to grow into a monster with every passing second, rearing it's ugly head which distracted him from his daily routines inside his house. The wax seal blared into his deep blue eyes, igniting old fires that had once been mere cinders.

The Hero could have sworn he heard the letter howl, and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, and perhaps it was not; but the howl was all it took to make Link stop what he was doing and practically rip open the envelope, tossing the destroyed parchment to the floor, and hastily unfolding the piece of paper that was inside. His fingers shook with an uneasiness that the Hero could hardly remember; whether it was excitement or fear, he didn't know. The first thing he noticed about the letter was that it was short; one sentence it seemed. The second thing he noticed was that is was obviously in Princess Zelda's hand. Not once had he received a letter that was not personally from the Princess.

Since it was short, he decided to read on:

_Link, _

_You need to come to the Castle, because I have something important to tell you. _

_Zelda _

It was probably the shortest letter he had ever read from Zelda. Usually she complained about how the guard wasn't doing this or that, but Link was actually surprised at how quick to the point the Princess was being.

She wanted him to come did she?

What could it possibly be for?

Link gently set the short letter down back onto his counter, a blank expression on his face; his mind reeled at the possibilities of what Zelda wanted and or needed, but nothing amazing or insightful came to mind.

Was it really all that important? Was what Zelda had really worth his precious time all by himself?

He guessed the biggest question was if he was ready to face the fact that he was probably never going to see Midna ever again.

Link wasn't sure he was ready to give that up.

The memories of an imp riding upon his wild back were still too fresh. The brief glimpses of their intimate moments still too close to his heart. The reminiscing was all he had, and Link wasn't sure whether or not he was ready to give all that away for a life that didn't seem ready to accept him back to it's normalcy. The state that he had returned Hyrule to didn't seem to want Link of Ordon back. The goddesses forbade it; all anyone wanted, and all the Gods wanted was Link the Hero. Link, the one who had saved Hyrule from certain doom; Link, the one who held mighty courage to smite his foes.

As he knew before, Link of Ordon was dead to the world; he vanished the day he turned into the sacred wolf. Vanished, much like the innocent children and best friend he once held so close as the only people who could really give his life meaning.

In those days, there were no wolves in Ordon… nobody knew of blood thirsty animals that hunted defenseless chickens and monkeys; There were only the Villagers, the goats, and the trees; the sun and moon their close partners. But after the Twilight struck, the wolves all seemed to flock wherever Link did, their howls rising into the evening sky, welcoming the one they called master. Midna had called it something akin to a chorus of angels singing to the moon. Link had also sang to the sky many times before…

Now that peace was restored, no more wolves came to Ordon.

No more wolves followed the Hero as their master.

And Link had not howled to the moon in three and a half months.

It was driving him mad.

He missed the days (as scary as it sounded) of ripping into the flesh of monsters with bare teeth and claws, bringing down something twice his size only with what the Goddesses graced him. He missed the sound of silent footfalls as his paws hit the ground with every dash, ripping up dirt with his claws and running faster than what his human legs would allow.

But most of all, he missed the one on his back who would laugh and put her small arms up in the air to catch the breeze; missed the noise she made when he suddenly sped up, nearly sending her flying off of him. Missed the same wild craze they both had together when they were surrounded.

They had both understood each other and their need to be different.

Both of them had gone through a transformation; each one turned into some sort of twisted thing, looked down upon by both Light Worlder and Twili alike.

It was she and he; nobody else.

How could a man gone beast truly go back to the way life used to be, if all he wanted to do was do what he was built for?

To feel the rush of the kill… to feel the rush of Midna against his skin… oh how he would sell his _soul _to have that blasted mirror put together again.

"…damn thata blasted postman… maybe the letter fell outta' the bag…"

"The Postman doesn't lose letters. Get that out of your think skull."

"Oh I'ma sure it's happened once'n'hile."

"Speak proper! Your accent isn't going to help your image!"

"As if image matters to tha man."

Link's ears perked up to the voices outside, an eyebrow cocking upward. Was he seriously getting visitors?

As if in answer to the question, there was a slow rapping at the Hero's door; the two men (Link had guessed) were still conversing quietly before Link decided to take a peek through his door hole to see whom it was.

Much to his surprise and irony, it was two Hylian soldiers, dressed in their casual attire and carrying spears. They didn't wear any helmets, exposing their travel dusted features; One of the them was fairly tall and narrow, a nice patch of thick black hair growing on the top of his head. He also had a fairly scruffy beard growing in, suggesting he was probably nearing his thirties. The other solider was a tad shorter; he seemed like he had a pretty good build on him. His face was clean shaven and his dark brown hair was tied back in a short pony tail, much like Link's current look. He had an annoyed look on his face. The hero decided that the man with the black hair was the one that had the horrible accent.

"I'ma just sayin' that ya can't trust that Goddess damned postman," the man with the black hair continued, "I meana he's preeety suspicious if ya know what I mean."

"For the fifth time," the man with the brown hair replied, "The postman said he _delivered _the damn letter a week and a half ago. Stop your whining…"

Link guessed that if he didn't answer his door anytime soon, he would have to hear these two all day. His solitude wasn't worth being tortured by two bumbling royal guard.

A slow grin turned up on the Hero's face; Might as well scare them a little. He was a kind of peeved that these men had the gall to disturb his much wanted retirement.

Link slowly grabbed his door handle, still keeping an eye on the two outside. It seemed they were too busy arguing to notice that the door handle was turning, so the Hero's steady hand continued to turn until the device couldn't any longer. Then, putting on the angriest disgruntled face he could muster, he pushed open the door as fast as his arm would allow – barely missing the black haired man – and stared into the eyes of his visitors:

"What the hell do you two want?" Link asked in a low voice, his blue eyes narrowing into slits. However, he didn't get an answer, seeing as the two soldiers were too much in shock to really reply. The youth rolled his eyes and stared them down again asking, "I _said: What_ the hell do you two _want?_"

The black haired man gulped, while the other sort of smiled in a nervous manner, his expression turning into that of an apology. He was the first to speak up.

"I uh… well… the townsfolk said you wouldn't have opened your door but… uh."

Link scowled. He was definitely not in the mood for stutterers.

"Get to the point."

"Oh… uh… well," the brown haired soldier began, loosening the color of his white and blue tunic, "W-we were sent by her royal highness to uh… well… inform you that she needed you… she sent a letter some time ago – "

"I know she did. Why does she want me?"

"You didn't do what tha' letter said?" the black haired man asked, his face turning up in confusion.

"Yeah, I didn't," Link snapped, "In fact, I didn't even read it until five minutes ago and now you two show up. What does she want me for?"

The two soldiers stared at each other for a moment, their faces ranging from "is he an idiot" to "why the crap did we come here?"

The brown haired man faced the Hero again, and cleared his throat, "Well, I'm not sure myself why she wants you there… I guessed it was of great importance. The only thing she had to say is that 'something gravely important has come up' and if you weren't there, then she would personally come and… 'Drag you by your ear' to get you to the castle."

"…'Drag me by my ear' eh?" Link leered at him, his nostrils flaring just slightly. The other man started to loosen the straps on his gloves, trying to look as brave as possible but failing miserably.

"I'm only the messenger sir… I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring us any harm."

"You mean _we're_ the messengers," the black haired man cut in.

"Yes… _we're_ the messengers… "

Link looked down slightly. So even the messengers didn't know what Zelda wanted.

Princess Zelda, Link knew, was a fairly young ruler. She had just got back her kingdom, and her hold on things wasn't very good at the start (hence the many letters asking him for aid), but eventually things calmed down enough for her so that she was able to get a firm grip on what was hers. The hero was now certain that if the letter the Princess sent meant anything, it meant that he probably was needed this time. Link did not like the sound of being needed again so soon… so quickly after Midna left… but the letter's short words where starting to make Link feel bad about leaving it unopened for such a long time; considering two men of the Royal Guard where here, the hero couldn't deny that it was probably not a good idea to have just left the letter laying on his counter to rot. If the soldiers signified anything, it just stood for the fact that Link had a poor sense of judgment when he was depressed.

"Damn it all," he muttered, and slammed the door in the two men's faces.

Though it was a rude gesture, Link was going to go back out there anyway.

"This had better be a good reason Zelda… oh this _better _be."

For a while, Link paraded around his home, finding various pouches that carried all of his equipment; bombs, arrows, and anything in between. He grabbed his sword and shield last, the weight of which was an unfamiliar sort of parasite on his back. He hadn't used the blasted things in nearly four months, and both the shield and the sword felt completely foreign. Even when Link slowly drew out the Ordon sword from it's sheath, he questioned whether or not he could truly be the warrior he had been that short time ago. There was no doubt in his mind that he was still deadly with or without a blade in his hands, but his heart kept telling him that he wasn't into the prospect of having to shed more blood – though disgusting and non-human it may be.

He put the Ordon sword back in it's place, and slowly walked toward his door. He gently touched the handle, turning his head back to look at his home, wondering when he would be back this time.

"This had _better _be good…"

His hand abruptly turned the door knob and Link practically threw himself outside, once again startling the two men who had seemed to give up their venture.

"Sir? Are ya comin' then?" The black haired one asked in a confused whine, his accent carrying his voice higher than it should.

"What are your names?" Link asked, ignoring the black haired man's question.

"I'm Kaepora," the brown haired man replied, "and this country fellow here is named Teal." He pointed with his thumb to his taller companion.

Link furrowed his brow a little, "I see… "

The young Hero strode past the two men with ease, deciding not to climb his ladder. He, instead, jumped down to where he had put Epona, patting her broad and strong neck before mounting her. It felt good to get on her back after such a long time without feeling the wind go through his hair. Even though he couldn't turn into a wolf, at least being on the back of a horse could make him feel a little wilder than usual.

"Well then Kaepora and Teal," Link began, moving Epona forward just a little bit. She looked pretty excited herself to run around a little, "I suggest you try to keep up. I can get to Hyrule Castle in record time."


	4. Chapter 4

Yay! I updated! Sorry this took so long to upload. Finals are coming up and the last half of school was really pushing me. So, try to be nice, seeing as how I hate certain portions of this chapter. Some of it is just really crappy writing, and I needed to move on because this story has been dying to get out on paper. So, I apologize ahead of time if this chapter seems a little... lacking.

Other than that, if you guys have any questions at the end, just pop in a review that I can reply to. Oh, and even if you don't have a question, send one in anyway. Your reviews are really helping, and every time I get a new one it bolsters my spirits. I know I mentioned this last time, but I can't stress how important it is. It's just good to know.

Well, without further ado, lets continue shall we?

* * *

Chapter 4: Understanding

_Though winter had not set in down in Hyrule, Midna was feeling the bitter chill of the cruel Snow Peak Providence every second the wind howled with the blizzard. Her feet and hands had been numb for at least twenty minutes, and Link had been taking his good sweet time in scanning the mountain slope that would lead them to the supposed Mirror Shard that lay somewhere near the peak. _

_"Do you think you could take any longer?" Midna asked snidely, her face scrunching up as she gathered her limbs closer to her body, "I'm going to need you covered in fur soon, otherwise I'm going to freeze out here." _

_Link stopped his scouting to look at her, his fleshy, young cheeks colored rose due to the wind, "Well, I don't want to get lost. I've got to look at exactly what I'll be running over." _

_"Well, could you look at it a little faster?" The Imp said, shivering, "This cold is the pits." _

_The hero frowned a little, "Midna… you're… that cold?" _

_"Yes!" She instantly replied, holding her little body even closer, "I'm absolutely _suffering _out here. The Twilight Realm doesn't ever _get _cold!" _

_"I guess that makes the two of us," Link said, putting his hands down to warm them up. _

_"What do you mean by that?" _

_Link slowly exhaled, a white cloud flowing out of his mouth, "It never snows in Ordon either. I've never really seen snow before." _

_"Really? You don't seem like you're too affected by the cold." _

_"Well, I am wearing more than you…" _

_"Don't say anything more, otherwise I'm slapping your mouth shut." _

_"Just saying." _

_"Whatever." _

_There was another silence between them as Link continued his scouting of the frigid region, the wind and the snow deciding to fill the gap for them. Midna kept her red eye on him closely, trying to see if any form of shiver would enter his spine; she wanted to find anything resembling something akin to normal human in him. Everything they've been through so far had given her an odd opinion about the Light World… at first she thought it was riddled with cowards and spineless know-it-alls who thought they could take on the world. But Link had certainly been a different breed. _

_He had always been different. Always. _

Different_. Both of them were she guessed. She had thought a lot about this on their travels… how they were so different… but they were made the same by how they were different. If that made any sense at all. For a moment, she wondered why Link was so brave, so true, and so _bold _in everything he did. Her impish side was beginning to be curious, but her Princess side was the one trying to be polite so she wouldn't pry into Link's personal feelings. She wanted to keep herself from really knowing the young man… and yet, a question still bit at her; something was dying to be asked, and by goodness Midna was going to ask it when they had time. And time they had right now so she was going to ask it. _

_Right now. _

_Maybe. _

_"Ask him!" A little voice inside her pleaded, making her heart clench, "Ask him or you might never have a chance!" _

_"Ask him_ what_?" Midna retorted with herself. _

_"You know what to ask him!" _

_"Fine…" _

_The imp once Princess took in a big breath, "Say Link…," she started, her voice oddly careful and almost embarrassed, "How in the world did you become so… I don't know… brave?" _

_It was probably the stupidest question anyone could have ever asked, and yet Midna found the words coming out of her mouth before she really had any say in the matter. _

_Link turned to her, one of his eyebrows raised in the now notable curious look that he so often gave her when she asked odd things, "Excuse me?" _

_"You heard me," Midna replied, "Why are you so brave when everyone else around you isn't?" _

_"That's… a weird question…" _

_The imp turned away a little, "I know… but I'm asking it." _

_Midna imagined how awkward he must be feeling at the moment, and she didn't want to look at his face. But to her relief, he replied to her. _

_"I… I think it's a combination of things." _

_The Twili turned around, her expression turning into childish curiosity as she slowly floated over to the young Hero. His face looked foreign as he stared off into the distance, his expression stiff and his eyes more worn than usual. From that look, Midna could tell that she had hit a weak spot somewhere in his hero-like bravado. Not very many things did that to him, and the Imp's fire for knowledge continued to burn at her insides unceasingly until she figured out what was bothering him. Besides, if she didn't figure it out now, then Link would be in a sour mood. He was never fun to work with when he was bitter. _

_"Like What?" Midna prodded, floating a little closer to her blonde friend. _

_"…I… well, I guess Rusl had something to do with it… he taught me how to fight since the day I could pick up a sword… or a practice one at least. He said it was…," Link faltered here, his gaze no longer set on the peak of the mountain. It instead hung low, now looking at his boots. _

_Midna wanted to know more, "He said it was what?" _

_Link bit his lip, "He said he owed it to me… said it was what my father wanted. He owed it… to both of us he used to say." _

_"He owed it to you and your father? Why?" _

_Midna saw Link's chest tighten as she continued to ask questions, but for some reason he continued to answer, "My mother died when I was born, and my father was killed after I was two. I don't remember him much, other than he was the swordsman of the village. Rusl said I resembled him. Gives me an idea of how he might have looked… " _

_Midna then realized she had definitely hit a sore spot with the young Hero. _

_"Rusl… told me everything that happened when I was fifteen," Link's eyes began to frost over just like Midna's hands, his irises hardening into a memory that he probably didn't like, "My Father and Rusl were out patrolling the woods three nights away from my third birthday. There had been odd disturbances in the forest, and they were out trying to find what was going on." _

_"That night, there was a fight in the forest. Rusl could only describe the thing that attacked them as a monstrosity of bugs. He said it was like looking into the eye of death. "Gohma," was what dad called it. It meant, "Insect queen" in the old Hyilan tongue. Needless to say, Rusl was put in danger and my father… he…" _

_"He what?" Midna asked gently. _

_"He gave Rusl time enough to slay the beast. My father was already dead before Rusl could really do anything for him." _

_A long silence, but the Hero continued with the stone like expression carved into his face. _

_" From then on, Rusl took it upon himself to fulfill my father's wishes for me. My dad wanted me to learn how to fight, and Rusl made sure that he made me learn it. I surpassed him at fourteen. He guessed that my father was the one to blame for that. He always said Hylians were better at that sort of thing than Ordonians. Hm…" _

_With that, Link didn't talk anymore; his scouting was done, and all that was left to do was traverse the mountain side to find a suitable path. _

_Midna didn't say a word the entire trip up Snow Peak. The only sound was of a golden wolf howling to the sky as they marched on. _

_

* * *

  
_

The dream took Midna back to the many memories Link and herself had shared. The images alone wanted to make her scream and cry out, telling herself how she was such an idiot for breaking the mirror. But she _had _to do it. She absolutely had to. The Light World and the Twilight Realm couldn't mix, and everything that had happened had given her enough proof that Twilight and Light did not co-exist very well.

She had been telling herself that ever since she found out she was pregnant.

Ironically enough, she had been having the vivid dreams of Link and herself ever since she found out she was pregnant.

On another note, Midna discovered she didn't like being pregnant when she found out she was pregnant.

Flattening two guards against a wall didn't help either.

"Why does fate have to be so _damn _cruel," She said to herself, lying in her bed early in the morning, trying to put all of her efforts into a plan that would allow her to skip all meetings she had that day. Nothing ingenious was coming to mind, other than running out of the castle to somewhere a little farther off into the Twilight; somewhere in which people couldn't follow her every second of the day. She wanted to be alone for once, and ever since the very hush-hush announcement to the Castle's inner circle, Midna had not gotten any time to herself.

The queasy feeling in her stomach wasn't helping either. Though there was a nice plate of flat bread next to her bed, she didn't feel like eating it; even though she was tired, she didn't want to go back to sleep, afraid that she would feel ever lonelier with each passing dream that always included one man: Link.

Why was Link in every blasted dream she had these past nights? She vaguely wondered if the hero had somehow discovered magic and sent his memories through the void; of course that was impossible… but everything she did with that man made the impossible quite plausible, and she immediately felt like a little defenseless imp again, staring agape at one of Link's many feats against nature that she _swore_ was just plain luck or divine intervention.

Of course, that didn't matter. The memories of their previous adventure where barely enough to take. Because with the dreams always came the distinct vision of that night in the Sacred Grove where the Master Sword watched them do the dirty deed (though, Midna didn't think of it as dirty at all. It's what some of her council wanted her to think). She would always hear herself echo the words:

_"The Hero always gets a happy ending." _

The lead in her gut made her morning sickness even worse.

"It's the regret isn't it?" She said out loud to herself, "The regret that I did do something wrong and I don't want to admit it…"

She wanted to blame everyone but herself for her wrong-doings. She wanted to always point a finger at someone else other than her. She was a Queen. A symbol. She was so focused on being an advocate of all things right that sometimes she forgot she made mistakes.

"_Was breaking the mirror a bad judgement?_" She asked in her head, making the covers of her bed curl around her more, "_Is this some sort of…_punishment _for my wrong doing_?"

The Queen of Twilight wasn't sure if she really wanted that question answered.

However, one thing was definitely certain.

She was _not _going to any meetings today. She was going to have a day to herself and if anyone tried to stop her, she was going to possibly kill the person.

With that decision made, Midna took a piece of flat bread, stuffing it down her throat as she got dressed for the day in her casual attire. She wasn't going to leave out of her door; two guards were posted in front of it, and if she truly wanted to sneak out, she would have to go through her window and teleport somewhere far, far away. Far _far _far far away.

"So far away so I can't see this bloody castle," she repeated to herself, "So far away that I can't hear the gossip… so far away that maybe I can just touch the Light World… just a little."

She summoned her magic deep within her, the ancestors of her distant past running through her veins as she called to the source of power, desiring the need to move to a different place. She didn't give it any specifics; she wanted to get _away _and she knew the magic would know where to take her.

The magic listened to her plea, and did in fact teleport her far away. So far away that Midna truly didn't know where she was from the castle:

The Twilight sky moved oddly here. The clouds casted darker shadows than near the castle, and the sky itself was the color of blood. Midna had seen the color in the sky before in the Light world. It usually occurred when the sun was just about to let the moon rise. The place felt foreign to the Twilight Queen… something that didn't seem to fit right with her. Her surroundings didn't help much; Jagged rocks encompassed where she stood, their deep obsidian giving off the reflection of the red sky above. It felt like a canyon of dark mirrors, like a twisted maze ready to swallow it's runner.

The Twili could actually sense that this was near the end of her realm… a place where very few of her people ever dared go. Not because of the danger, but rather for the acute sense of horrible endlessness that one felt inside their soul. Midna could only describe it as a feeling of being hollow. She wasn't sure if this was a bad sign to be there, but she decided that at the moment she didn't really care. She got what she wanted for the time being: A peaceful moment to herself. With a resolute look at one obsidian rock that gave off her reflection, she decided to walk down the canyon of black mirrors.

Her bare feet placed themselves carefully against the rock below her. Though the ground was smooth, it was still made out of the same material as that of the canyon walls. Her eyes remained open as she searched for any broken off shards that looked lethal to her skin, but found none. She decided that she could probably think safely now that her feet weren't in danger of being cut up.

"Three and a half months," she said to herself, walking steadily in some unknown direction, "Three and a half months since I've seen you. I hope you're not a nervous wreck."

Her voice was lower for once. Now that she wasn't speaking above people, or through long hallways, she felt the need to be at a level that she could understand.

"I know you can't hear me right now… but if you could… would you be able to forgive me?"

She stopped to look at the sky, the dark clouds moving with the wind.

"I now know that it was probably wrong to destroy the mirror… but Link… I didn't want anything to happen to your world ever again. I couldn't let some freak accident on my part allow your world to be in peril. I wanted you to be at peace; I wanted you to be able to move on without me, but I guess I was too selfish to let go of you really."

"Now look where I am… I'm stuck in a realm without you, and I have your child in here to boot. Who would've thought you know? Who would have even _thought _this would happen when I first met you as a wolf… not me that's for sure. I wonder what your reaction would have been if I was there to say it to you… I bet you would have fainted… naw… you probably would have been so excited and yelled it out to no one in particular. Then I would be trying to shut you up."

Midna looked back down to her feet, her bright eyes slowly moving over to an obsidian wall which gave off a marred reflection due to all the spikes, cracks, and weather worn surfaces. The reflection made her look twisted.

"I… I really hope that you… that you're okay over there. Whatever you do, don't get yourself killed… always watch your back; I'm not there to watch it for you anymore after all. Oh by the Twili I want you to be happy… that's all I've ever wanted."

The Queen was giving it her all not to cry, but she couldn't hold back her eyes from leaking a few heavy tears to fall to the black ground. She looked down at her feet, feeling too ashamed to look up at the sky anymore. But when she looked into the deep colored rock, she wasn't seeing Midna as she knew herself, but her past imp self instead. With her overly large head, and disproportioned body; the rest of her face covered with the fused shadow, one yellow and red eye staring out at everything else. She was crying too… but over something completely different.

It was the completion of the memory from Snow Peak that she saw. At the time she didn't know why she cried that night after Link explained what happened to his parents, but all the same she realized it again.

"That's when I realized I was such an idiot."

And once the words left her lips, she heard it.

The most melancholy sound of harp or lyre in the distance; a strange ghost of a sound that haunted the back of Midna's mind, yet begged her to follow. The source was close by… somewhere around one of the tight corners of the obsidian canyon.

Midna's awareness snapped back into place as the music continued, and her feet began to carry her before she knew what she was doing. Her mind reeled at who could possibly be in this back water of a place at the edge of the Twilight Realm; for a moment she wondered if any of her guards or the council members found out, but she knew that was impossible. Her guards were probably still stationed at her door oblivious to her absence, and the council members where still asleep at this hour. On another note… none of them had any instrument that made that sound…

Then she realized that a harp or lyre were light world instruments. She remembered Link vaguely talking about random ugly looking things that made the most beautiful sounds Midna had ever heard. The music she heard now was reminiscent of the band that used to always play in the square of Hyrule Castle Town… but… this tune wasn't happy or joyous.

It was the sound of a deep and long forgotten shadow… a shadow that is lonely, melancholy, and full of bitterness.

A nocturne.

Her feet carried her faster.

* * *

Zelda felt fairly nervous as she sat straight in her throne, her eyes looking through a window into the vast mountains of Snow Peak Providence. Her stomach wasn't settling on breakfast well, and the news that Link had arrived in town boosted her spirits, but the prospect of having the Hero particularly angry at her was not something the impending queen of Hyrule really wanted to think about. Every time the butterflies in her gut decided to fly around, Zelda's back would become even more ridged; her image was very important to her, and she didn't want Link thinking she was afraid of the judgments that came from a retired goat herder and hero who saved the entire land from imminent doom. Link, after all, was as human as she was, and if he did bring up how annoyed he was with her, she wasn't going to leave herself open.

She hoped he had not changed too much since their last meeting. It had been three and a half months after all; who _knew _what Link did all by himself cooped up in his house.

The Princess sighed, her gaze still attached to the actual mountain of Snow Peak. That was why she had sent Link the letter; something was going on in those mountains, and she knew the only person capable of scouting for her was a certain Ordonian with a chip off his shoulder. She had debated sending the letter out, considering every note previous to that one was always sent back with a single reply of 'no'. This had frustrated her to no end, but now Link was coming… actually coming to see her on a subject that wasn't to be talked about openly.

Her gaze slowly drifted away from the window, and returned to look in front of her. The Holy Royal Throne Chamber had long since been repaired, the castle banners swaying in whatever breeze came through from the giant double doors guarding the exit. The statues of the Goddesses rested above her, holding the figurative Triforce Relic in their hands as they created the Earth. After the statue had been fixed, Zelda hadn't realized how much she actually missed the divine sculpture. She knew that it was there to remind her of how she must be truthful, courageous, and powerful for her country, but she felt like the Goddesses were closely watching over her and her kingdom instead of sending painful reminders of how she failed her original duties once.

She guessed that's why no one came up here anymore; not even her escort guards. No one followed her because this was the place of her first failure. This was the place where Zant forced her and her people to surrender to the tyrant that was Ganondorf… but this was also a place of triumph. Not very many people knew what took place in these hallowed halls; she still remembered the great lengths Link and Minda had taken when she was a soulless body being held hostage.

For a moment she wondered what Link thought of this place… and the next instant she regretted it because she knew what he thought of it.

This had been Midna's grave once… and she doubted Link would look at it any differently.

Midna…

Zelda's thoughts slowly turned to that fateful day just a few months prior in the Desert. The Arbiters' Grounds, the Mirror of Twilight… Midna breaking it and sending Link into a fit that she couldn't get him out of. He didn't scream, he didn't run… all he did was let one tear slip from the corner of his eye and silently panicked. Link, the hero of all of Hyrule was panicking because Midna broke a mirror. In all honesty, the idea was rather absurd when one said it out loud. It was almost like crying over spilt ranch milk… but Zelda knew better. She knew Link knew better too, but she was also privy to the matters of the Hero's heart. Link didn't say no to her requests out of vice, nor did he do it to spite the Princess herself; he did it because his health was bad. He did it because he ached a different kind of ache, and Zelda guessed he really didn't know how to handle a wound that couldn't be healed with a simple bandage and potion.

"_Hopefully I can help with that… it's the least I can do,"_ Zelda thought, slowly rising from the throne and stepping off of the gentle rise. She wanted to get closer to one of her windows, but her peace in the chamber was shattered, when one of the door s all but through itself open, and in walked a very bitter, very disgruntled hero of legend, Link.

"Link!" Zelda said, surprised. She clutched her chest for a moment, clearly not expecting Link to literally explode into the empty room, "What In the world was that entrance for?"

However, Link didn't seem to be in the mood for formalities.

"What is it Princess?" He asked in an annoyed tone, his expression etched with anger and all out dislike of being there. Zelda was actually a little scared of the young man.

She paused, regaining her composure, "Well… you certainly want that explanation… did the guards give you any trouble?"

"Your guards Kaepora and Teal are probably the most annoying pair I have ever seen or heard, and they slowed me down the whole time. Yes, I would consider they gave me trouble. What do you want Princess so I can go home?"

Zelda was not liking his tone. She could feel her face contort while trying to keep the subtle idea of smacking him out of reach. He was definitely not pleased, but that didn't mean he could treat the Princess of Hyrule like some maid ready to be saved.

"Just because you're the Hero and saved my Kingdom doesn't mean you can't show me respect Link… I'm not sorry I dragged you all the way to Castle Town, and I can only tell you that things will get worse for you if you keep that attitude up. This is not friendly advice, because I'm telling this to you as the ruler of this country. Do I make myself clear?"

Link did seem a little embarrassed after her warning, and all he could do was dart his eyes around and squeeze his fists over and over again. Zelda guessed that this was a sign of him calming down.

"_I see… he really is quite troubled…" _

"And in all seriousness Link," the Princess continued, "I am concerned about you not doing anything for the past few months. I also sent this letter because I'm a friend, not a fiend. Big difference."

The Hero sighed, "Forgive me if I'm a little peeved. You did kind of just send a letter that was very vague, and on top of that you sent the two most obnoxious people on the planet to my door."

The Princess smirked a little, "Ah… I see Kaepora and Teal treated you well?"

"If you call not shutting up for the entire ride here at full gallop, then yes," Link replied curtly. Zelda noticed his lips tighten as he glared at nothing in particular. The Princess only turned her smirk into a grin to prevent herself from laughing. She had to admit that sending her two most annoying guards to Link's house was a good idea.

"Come now, Link. Did you plan on staying in your house forever?" Zelda asked, planting an innocent look of concern on the tired looking Hero. Link seemed to deflate a little, his feelings of annoyance vanishing and being replaced by a look of remorse. The Princess knew she hit a sore spot with him, but it couldn't be helped.

The hero looked up at her with a subtle weight in his eyes. Zelda noticed the light didn't seem to catch them, "Did you really have to call me so soon after… after she left?"

The question sounded more hurt than offended, but Zelda couldn't really take the pain she felt in his voice, and she subconsciously turned away from him, her hands coming together in a nervous rub.

"Yes Link. I had to… this matter is urgent, and… I think it strongly involves us."

The Princess dared to turn around a little, surprised to see that one of his eyebrows were raised in slight interest. The hurt feelings were still there, but his eyes did not move from hers, obviously waiting for the news. Zelda looked away again, her gaze going through the glass to Snow Peak once more. Dark clouds were forming over the crest of the mountain, blotting out the far off scenery that made the peak look pleasantly peaceful. The Princess guessed it was going to rain shards of ice soon, and the foreboding clouds only made her anxiousness of this meeting harder to keep under control.

"Link," Zelda began unsteadily, " You are aware of Snow Peak Providence, yes? I heard you have been up there once."

"Yes, I have," Link confirmed. He sounded neutral.

The Princess took in a breath, "The issue that I called you for has to deal with that mountain. It's been… troubling me as of late."

Zelda swiftly turned around, facing Link once more who had an indifferent facial expression. She wasn't sure how a man could be listening and yet not look interested, but she continued.

"I need you to look out the window and tell me what you see."

"What, you can't just tell me?" Link chided, but his feet carried him over to the window anyway, giving a glance to her, and then putting his attention at the view of Snow Peak. He stared intently at the glass to the places beyond, squinting his eyes to focus the area at hand.

Zelda asked, "What do you see?"

Link waited a few moments before answering, "I see a blizzard coming in… nothing that special. Snow Peak always has blizzards."

"Look again," Zelda stated, and Link's eyes squinted again.

"The clouds…," Link said, his voice unsure, "They look… darker than they should be… in fact, they don't even look like natural clouds."

The Princess remained calm, "Do they remind you of anything? Anything at all?"

"They remind me of a lot of things… ," Link replied, his tone going down a little, "But… I guess I can see why this has you worried. They definitely don't look good… do you know what they are?"

Zelda sighed, "I haven't the faintest clue. They have been appearing ever since… oh… three weeks ago? I personally suspect black magic activity, but that I'd be quite surprised with that accusation, seeing as the use of black magic was banned many years ago."

"Wait," Link said, putting his hands up and waving them, "Wait, wait, wait… you're saying you have a name for these kinds of things? Like laws?"

"Well… yes," Zelda replied, "There have been laws against black magic for hundreds of years… ever since the Great Imprisoning War… when was that… nearly five hundred years go now… oh I don't know –"

"Alright you don't have to go into a history lesson."

Zelda felt oddly annoyed that she didn't get to finish, "Well, if you have something important to say later, perhaps I'll make it painfully obvious that I'm interrupting you."

Link smirked just a little, his eyes sparkling with the expression, "Oh come now Princess. I'm a Goat Herder. I have a short attention span."

"Oh stop it," The Princess said shortly, playfully hitting his shoulder as if she were annoyed with him. It felt good that they were talking this way again, even if it was on unsteady circumstances. When he smiled, she could tell a little bit of the boy did remain before the man took over. Overall he still seemed a tad melancholy, but the smirk he gave her meant that all wasn't completely lost. After a few short giggles, the seriousness of the situation came back down on them and the Princess knew it was time to move on in the conversation.

Zelda gave Link the gravest of looks as she continued, "Anyhow… the clouds; I called you here to investigate Snow Peak."

The hero faced the window once more, his eyes glued on the conversation topic, "I see… I'm guessing you didn't want to send any ordinary guy huh?"

"Dealing with dark magic Link, you never know what to expect," Zelda warned, "I couldn't risk the practically new born soldiers to get themselves killed from frost bite. Or worse."

Link raised one of his eyebrows high, "Worse?"

"Yes, worse. Oh I forgot, worse for you is if you're in the belly of a monster."

The hero actually looked a little annoyed by this statement, but his sideways smirk came back on his face, "I guess you're right about that."

Zelda smiled a little wider herself, "Of course. I'm always right."

Both tried to remain serious, but both managed to burst into laughter as the dark clouds continued to grow over Snow Peak. For Zelda, it felt good to feel light hearted before the hard days she knew were coming for all of them.

* * *

A man sat with a lyre on a smooth, dark rock, his bandaged fingers playing his chosen instrument with incredible dexterity and knowledge. His hand moved with gentle prowess, flowing with the rhythm and beat the song created; the song seemed more hopeful than sad as Midna stood there, listening to the strange tune that echoed through the canyon walls and her ears. Now that she listened to it more intently, she found it beautiful and caressing… like a lover lost to the winds but found again in a later time.

The young man himself was equally mysterious as his song; shaggy blond hair and old wrappings covered his face. Even the top of his head was protected by the same material as his shall. His body was covered by a light blue material, sticking closely to his form, probably allowing more flexible movement. His forearms had bandages around them too, attaching some form of cheap gauntlets that only seemed to be scrap pieces of metal. His shoes weren't much either; soft padding on the bottom of his soles. But the thing that stood out the most was a thin linen covering on the front of his chest; a weeping eye the color of blood, it's tear streaming all the way down to the bottom of the shall. If there were any more to his get up, Midna wouldn't have seen it. He seemed dressed for stealth and quickness. Not much else… except for him playing his lyre.

The young Queen could tell that he noticed her standing there. Regardless, he continued to play as if no one were watching him in particular. The song was nearing it's climax, hope rising and then the beautiful end in which the notes untied in an intimate embrace. Midna actually wanted to clap, but resisted the urge to do so. The man's fingers relaxed from his playing and he pulled the lyre away. His head rose in a graceful arch and his one visible eye opened, revealing a bright red iris staring down at her.

"Ah… Midna, Queen of the Twilight Realm and all that glows with the dying sun. We finally meet."

Midna walked a little closer, her own red eyes boring into his; she had the distinct feeling he wasn't fazed by her attempts at starting him down.

"Who… who are you?" Midna asked, her look growing suspicious and tense.

The stranger snapped his fingers and in an instant, his lyre vanished into thin air.

"I see you liked my song," he replied, ignoring her question, "Strange… seeing as any light worlder who hears it thinks nothing of nightmares… the Nocturne of Shadow tends to do that to the Hylian ear."

Midna painted an angry face on herself, "I asked nicely, and I won't do it again; who the hell are you and what are you doing in the Twilight?"

The stranger stood up on the rock, revealing a toned but thin body silhouetted against the darkening sun. His features crinkled under his shall, suggesting that he was smiling a little.

"Ah…," he said, "No beating around the bush then dear. Or rather your majesty. You will probably be comforted by the fact that I am not here to harm you in any way, shape, or form."

He hopped off of his rock with practiced ease, and stepped slowly toward her; his feet made no sound whatsoever – a fact in which Midna did not take comfort in.

"… My name is Sheik. I can be whatever you want me to be. Your shadow, your muse, your assassin, your body guard, your messenger… anything. However, I am not here for requests."

The Queen of the Twilight was now confused. She wondered if she looked stupid with her mouth hanging open like she knew it was, "I… then… what are you here for?"

The man now known as Sheik stepped closer to her, focused and poised. Without warning he rushed her, putting a gentle hand behind her and an even softer one on her abdomen. Midna jumped at the sudden contact, but when the stranger placed an ear to her skin, she froze.

After a few moments of him doing this he said quietly, "Ah, I see. So you really do have his child."

"Get… get _off of me!_" Midna suddenly quipped, attempting to swat at Sheik like a fly buzzing around her head.

Sheik quickly did as he was ordered, "Forgive me… I merely had to confirm any suspicions."

"Suspicions _indeed!"_ Midna hollered offended and violated on so many levels, "What was all that for? How the _hell _did you even know! How did you get here!"

The stranger only gave her a blank and serious stare, "I believe you are asking all the wrong questions your highness. The question should not be by what means I have managed to get into your realm, but why I am here."

The Queen stopped herself from saying what she was going to say next, and instead gave Sheik a look of mild interest. He was right… why was he here?

"Then… why are you here?" she reiterated, "How long have you been here?"

With this, the stranger smiled under his shawl again.

"I have been here ever since you have come back… but that isn't the important part."

Midna scowled, "Then what is?"

Sheik's smile quickly turned serious, "The child in your womb is not safe."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **

I have to apologize! Really, I do. I thought I was going to update this so much faster than I have been. You guys have been so patient with me, and for that I thank you muchly.

This chapter features Link a little more, so hurray for him! Trying to pick up the pace a little bit, sharing both Midna and Link's problems. You guys can tell me how well I did, considering this was one of _those _chapters and it took me a while how to order and write it. I don't think I'll have this problem later on, but you never know. I know FOR SURE it woun't happen for chapter six. haha. Crossing fingers much?

Please read and review if you will. The feed back and compliments are wonderful - I'm still so surprised how you guys like this. :) *hugs*

Chapter 5: Unfeeling

The stranger's words froze Midna's soul to her core, making her back shudder and her eyes wide. She brought her hands around her abdomen protectively as if trying to make it vanish like a forgotten sin. She could only guess how the look of confusion and bewilderment looked to Sheik but after sinking in the information he gave her, her outward appearance didn't seem to matter much anymore.

"My… child…?" She stuttered, admitting for the first time after the confirmation that she was, sooner or later, going to have a baby. Not just any baby for that matter; a light worlder's child… Link's. Why this had not hit her so hard before, she wasn't sure but Sheik's warning was certainly an eye opener.

Midna looked up, still holding her stomach with her hands and said, "Why… why is the child in danger? How could that be?"

Shiek's expression (or lack thereof) did not change as his red eye stared directly into the queen of Twilight. Though his face showed nothing, he looked grave; a giver of death sentences befit kings.

"Your highness," he said politely, walking closer toward her once more, "Not all nobles, nor forces are on your side. Evil spirits walk everywhere but are never seen; ears hear but are never heard. More than just you and your… consort know what took place to sprout the miracle that is life inside you. Do you really believe that this event would go on unawares?

"The elders of your kind would call what is in your womb a taboo. A sin against nature… a creature of both darkness and light; as such, can dwell in neither here nor there. They would want it dead before it cried it's first cry, your highness. For not every one of your people enjoy a light worlder's company."

Midna's mouth fell open, "What… how could they… a 'sin against nature?' How could they-"

"It does not matter why they think that, highness… not now anyway; the point is, their view will not be changed and no one back at your beloved Twilight Castle is to be trusted beyond certain boundaries."

The queen faced away from the strange man, fear raging in her heart. However, the doubt resurfaced and she faced Sheik again, this time with a furrowed brow.

"How do I know that I can trust you…?"

Without blinking, he replied, "You don't… but all I can give you is that I am on your side."

Midna gave him a speculating glance, pressing her lips into a tight line.

"Try not to judge my loyalties your highness," Sheik assured her, walking around her to where she couldn't see him; an idea that particularly bothered the young Twili, " I am here to protect you and your next of kin. A matter of trust comes with time. But, I believe certain members of your beloved council have other plans. Many are being put against you as we speak."

Minda turned her head around and stood up, letting her protecting hands fall to their sides; Sheik stood with his back against her, making the uneasiness in the pit of her stomach grow.

"They plot against me?" The Twili questioned, "I know some of them might be sitting uncomfortably in their chairs right now but to go against-"

Sheik abruptly turned on his feat and in a blink of Midna's eye, he was right in front of her, the blood red iris that matched the life in his veins staring down at her, "Highness, what did I tell you before? Your loyalties should be questioned and not confided in. Your 'friends and allies' are snakes and liars. The one's who pat you on the back and say congratulations will erratically cut the baby out of you in the night. You. Are. Not. Safe."

The stranger's sudden closeness made the Queen's Temper flare, "How… how _dare_ you think that all of my servants and members of the court would betray me. Why, if the baby in my womb wasn't in danger I'd rip you to shreads-"

"If your child wasn't in danger. But it is. So therefore I'm right. I know it hurts to find that trusted friends become your enemy."

Midna's normally dark lips where becoming particularly white as the line began to disappear on her mouth. She bit her tongue to force back an offensive word toward the Sheikah and let out a slow breath through her nose. She was beginning the way he interrupted her – Link would have never interrupted her… ever.

Of course, this man was not her light-worlder… this man didn't seem human at all. His impassiveness for any sort of emotion made Midna more uncomfortable than she let herself allow and his mannerisms bordered on the lines of questionable. He was asking her to trust him – a feat which seemed impossible due to the clothes and stare of such a person who could appear behind or in front at whim. Her eyes narrowed in distrust but she didn't have enough information not to trust him either. She needed to know more – something she wasn't sure the Sheikah would give her more of.

"Trust certainly is a fragile thing isn't it?" Midna mused, clenching and unclenching her fists in a steady pattern, unsure of what to say to the mystery man.

Sheik did not reply but the young Twili could tell that if he did, his words would reflect some sort of agreement.

The Queen sighed, "Then what must I do?"

"What must warriors do when they know they cannot win a fight?" Sheik asked arbitrarily, folding his arms and stepping away from. His eye looked pensive.

"They flee."

* * *

Link felt oddly chilly as he walked down the familiar street, reminiscing the many times he ran to and fro through the back alleys of Castle Town. The paths were rather lonely tonight due to the cold air that decided to travel through the city and as far as Link could tell, mostly everyone was probably inside to avoid it. The hero kept rubbing his hands together and sticking them in his armpits, keeping track of where he was going, along with trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he had not visited certain individuals in such a long time… at least with Zelda he could tell the truth, but with the old resistance group he used to take part in? That was very much a different story. He doubted saying that he was depressed over the loss of a lover from the twilight realm would go over very smoothly.

He silently prayed to the Goddesses that Rusl hadn't decided to take a sudden trip to the city.

The young hero turned the corner to find the little dead end street that was home to Telma's old bar. Link, mulling over the location, had forgotten how much of a dump the outside tended to look, and the cold night didn't make the bar look any more welcoming in his eyes. The outside oil lamps where not lit, and the familiar white cat's fluffy tail was nowhere in sight. It made the young hero feel like one out of many at a party, only he wasn't invited.

He was careful to walk down into the street, making sure nobody was following him suspiciously, and quickly walked over to the bar's front door. Rubbing his hands together for some warmth, he grabbed the door handle and swung it outward, feeling warm air rush around him from the inside. Link let the feeling pass him graciously, but stepped inside and shut the door to not let anymore warm air leak out. Much to his surprise, the bar was as bare as Hyrule Castle Town's streets; he could see a few people sitting in chairs around tables, but nobody seemed familiar or recognizable.

"Well, well, well! Look what the cold air dragged in, sugar!"

Except for Telma, of course.

Link's gaze fell directly onto the bar matron, the weighty but happy woman beaming at his arrival. The other bar patrons looked up startled as her booming voice filled the room, but lost interest just as quickly when Telma walked over to someone other than them. Looking at Telma's happy smile made the young Hero smirk a little – her emotions were contagious. A good trait to have when people wanted to mule around and get drunk.

Telma walked straight up to him, smacking a heavy hand on his left shoulder unexpectedly, causing him to stumble in place, "It's been a while, dear! What have you been doing for the past few months hm? No letters, no word, no nothin', sugar!"

"Oh, I just uh… um…," Link stuttered, unsure of what wonderful excuse he could come up with. To his dismay, he couldn't really lie very well, "I've just been… herding goats… taking some breathers… it's been a while since I've had one… of… those."

Telma's eyes sparkled in the dim fire light, smirking at his response. She didn't say anything for a moment, making sharp and suspicious eye contact with the young man in front of her, but she shrugged and then said, "Well, don't we all need breaks? Huh, sugar?"

Link just nodded, allowing the bar matron to escort him to the main bar and a comfortable looking stool to sit on. By then, nobody was paying attention to them – a fact in which the young man was happy about. Out of habit, he didn't like it when he felt like unwanted eyes were watching his every move. After picking the first stool in the row and making himself comfortable on it, Telma offered him a warm drink, but as usual Link refused. He wasn't partial to the hard taste of mead or any other alcohol for that matter. He also preferred to stay sober for the evening, considering what he was going to do the next day. Telma just laughed and wondered if he'd like some whole milk instead and Link decided he wouldn't mind having a sip or two of that. After a good milk bottle in his hand and some hard swallows, the bar matron decided to bring up some conversation.

"So," she started, wiping dusty mugs and glasses, "What made you want to come all the way up here from your nice little forest home?"

Link smirked and took a small sip of milk, then cleared his throat, "Certainly not myself if that's what you're thinking; I was summoned by Princess Zelda herself."

"Really now?" Telma replied, deciding against wiping down mugs in glasses in favor for a more interesting conversation than most, "Am I allowed to know what for?"

"Zelda didn't want me to tell anyone… unless –"

"Unless what?"

"- Unless it involved a certain group of old resistance fighters."

Telma, smirking, leaned forward a little more to keep the conversation private. Her face was absolutely brimming with excitement, almost like a little boy or girl receiving their first piece of candy. Link wasn't sure whether he liked the look much.

"Are you saying," The bar matron began in a whisper, "you're asking for help, sugar? You know… from all the old guys? Shad, Ashei, and Auru?"

Link took another hard swallow, finishing off his bottle of milk, "Yes. What I have to do… I think it's going to require a little bit more partnership that what I had last time – besides. I can't go where I'm going alone."

Telma looked fairly pleased, but then her expression turned a little sour. Link thought that he might have said something to offend the bar owner – what might have offended her, he didn't know – but Telma wasn't looking at him directly. She appeared to be thinking about other things.

"Telma," the hero asked, "What seems to be wrong?"

"Well, that certainly puts a damper on things… certainly does…"

Link raised a blonde eyebrow, "Could you please explain?"

The bar maid looked a little guilty, "Well, Auru and company aren't even in Castle Town at the moment… "

"They… they aren't?" Link was genuinely taken by surprise by this fact, seeing as he couldn't possibly imagine what the group would be doing out of Castle Town during peaceful times, but after a moment he realized that not everyone had lost someone they loved to the realms and stayed in a un-social bubble for at least three months, "Can you tell me where they've gone? If you know of course."

Telma's guilty look vanished, and was replaced with a smile, "Luckily I can tell you, and I sense you're such the adventurer, I'm pretty sure you can get to where they are camped. The only reason I know is that they've sent me letters."

"Really?" The hero replied, eager to hear where they were, "Well, where can I find them?"

The bar owner leaned in a little closer and put a flat hand up to her face, "Well, sugar… they're in a place called the The Sacred Grove; or that's what Shad calls it. You know just as well as I do that he's more inclined with all the names of things – It's remarkable the relics they've found in there."

Link tired to make his face not show any sign of connection to the place. His stomach did flip flops and twirls, memories assailing him every time the place was mentioned anywhere on paper – and now by word of mouth. He tried to shove the intimate moments out of his head with Midna, but none of them seemed to want to leave – a love of each other, carnal yet kind racing through his heartbeat and up into his ears. Sounds of compassion and intensity bellowed in his ear drums. The quaint breeze of the forest surrounding them… almost as if he were right there in the Grove, like no time had passed. Her sunset fire hair overlapping each other like beautiful torrents of water, their mouths fleshing over as her hands petted the back she used to ride on. He almost stopped breathing.

"Sugar?" Telma said, snapping him back the bar and the low light of the inside world, "You look a little dazed? You okay?"

In his bombardment of memories, the hero hadn't noticed that he had been staring directly past Telma's shoulders in a daze for a scant fifteen seconds. The bar owner was pouting her lips and the glint of suspicion was back in her irises. Link looked back at her, hoping his face didn't look hurt or worse.

"Uh, I'm fine…," Link whispered, swallowing thickly, "So… they're in the Sacred Grove then… the Lost Woods I imagine?"

Telma looked at Link hard for another moment or two, but her complacent face came back up, "Like I said Link, you're a damned good adventurer. They are in the Lost Woods somewhere, but as of exactly where I'm not sure."

Link plastered a smile on his face, though it hid how he felt at the moment: empty and at a loss, "Well, I've got a knack for finding things. I think I'll be alright."

"Good to hear," Telma replied, "Well, how's about I give you a room for the night, Sugar? On me if you need it."

Link nodded gratefully, "Thanks Telma. You're the best."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Sugar."

* * *

_Midna was gone. _

_The fact almost hit him harder than Ganondorf's fist colliding with his face, sending him flying off the right side of Epona and careening into the dirt of the field below elbow first. He tried to stop his body from tumbling too far, afraid for the Princess's safety. Being the smart woman that she was, however, she immediately took the reins and turned the frantic horse around in the hero's direction as Ganondorf's black steed continued onward, possibly readying himself for another assault to Link's head. _

_His eyes couldn't seem to focus as he got unsteadily to his feet, the fall making his legs feel like his bones were made of flesh instead of something solid. Zelda and Epona quickly caught back up to him, and the hero gathered enough of his equilibrium to get back on the old goat herding horse turned war mare. _

_"Link, are you alright?" Zelda asked, helping steady the hero into his saddle once more. _

_"I'm fine," he lied, still seeing double of everything, but nevertheless taking the horse's reins anyway, and riding toward where he believed to be the Great King of Evil. Immediately he noticed that his right arm was not bending correctly, possibly due to the landing he had made, and every time he tried to bend it straighter, waves of pain would rip up his arm and make him hiss. He also noticed his white sleeve was turning red. He hoped it was just a gash as he saw the great black steed and his equally dark rider up ahead in the distance. _

_All in all, the situation was not good; Link was beginning to feel overly exhausted as this fight continued to rage on longer than anticipated. Sweat dripped from his brow, his muscles ached, and it _wasn'thwapt_ as if he had been unscathed in the previous fights. A particular wound in his side he received from one of Beast Ganondorf's horns was becoming aggravated, and dark blotchy spots were staining the areas in where his tunic had been ripped and chainmail torn asunder. An obvious wound was also on his thigh, a trophy from when Zelda had been possessed. The hero did not feel like he had high hopes that Ganondorf was one bit tired, and if the battles continued on as they had been he wasn't going to live much longer. _

_"He's coming into range… be wary – we can't afford you falling off the horse again," The princess said, readying her special bow and arrows the Light Spirits gave her. Link felt the heat emanating from the bow and arrows, their magical properties making him feel uneasy and relieved at the same time. _

_Link breathed heavily, the air rattling in his chest out of exhaustion, "Please try not to miss this time – I'll try not to lose the opportunity." _

_"I think we can do better this time – we know what to expect now." _

_For a moment the hero wondered how Zelda could remain so calm in a situation like this – A battle with only three people (previously four) for the freedom or death of Hyrule, a not so adequately fairing hero, and a dark magic user older than they cared to know twice their size and strength. But he surmised she acted much how he did when confronted with a challenge. If it's going to go you're way, or if it's going to go his way, the Goddesses will know what to do when it comes right down to it. _

_With that knowledge, Link spurred Epona faster – gaining ground and closer to the flanks of the demon eyed stallion. Link could hear Zelda's bow string go taut and shimmering light radiated from the readied bow. Ganondorf did not check behind him; whether it was out of stubbornness or skill, Link wasn't sure, but it was a blessing for the both of them as both horses thundered dangerously close for the speeds they were galloping at. The hoof beats rang in Link's ears, practically feeling the strain the Princess was feeling through her tough aiming job. Finally he heard a strong _thwap _sound and a dazzling beam of light whizzed past his head, sailing right toward the King of Evil's back. The arrow hit it's target dead on, making Ganondorf growl in agony as sparks danced across his skin. His horse, uncertain of what to do, slowed down; Link made Epona speed up, Master Sword blazing in the twilight sun. _

_As the distance closed between Ganondorf and the Hero, Link's thoughts were littered with images of Midna; the imp who he was guided and cared by. She had willingly sacrificed herself to protect their precious World of Light, and for a brief moment Link wondered whether her willingness to die was worth anything in his world. He did not want to see her leave his side ever – yet the crumbled pieces of Midna's magic helm stung at his heart, proclaiming that she would never return to his side, or his back, or his shadow. _

_The thought nearly set Link into tears as his blade struck Ganondorf's back harshly. Enough power was in the blow that it made the King of Evil fall off of his demon stallion – his heavy armor protected him from the fall and as he rolled on the rough ground, but the black steed was not as lucky as it's master as one of it's hoofs smashing against an unseen rock, tripping it. The weight sent the horse falling into the great fissure that separated Lanayru Providence from Eldin. _

_"Good, we got him off," Zelda breathed, "Maybe we can charge him?" _

_"I was thinking the same thing," Link said heavily with hate, readying his blade once more. He turned Epona and sent her at nearly full speed toward the Gerudo traitor. Ganondorf slowly got up, not looking at all as weak as Link felt, and turned quickly – he looked at Link directly in the eyes, rooting himself to the ground at the Hero's inevitable approach. Link, like a feral beast, cried out and aimed for Ganondorf's chest, but his blade never got there. Instead, the King of Evil somehow managed to grab hold of Link's sword arm, bringing him off his saddle once more and throwing him in an arch to the ground. Ganondorf was not gentle, and the air leaving Link's lungs at the suddenness of the hit proved it. Epona whinnied, galloping nervously as Zelda once again took control of her reins while her master wasn't on her saddle. Link struggled to gain back some composure, coughing up spittle and blood from his tongue. Apparently he had bit into it when he fell. Before he could recover, however, the sound of heavy foot falls clunking against the hard ground made Link's ears twitch. Link turned, his blue eyes widening with horror. _

_"You green clothed, blonde haired, and blue eyed boys never seem to end in my life it seems," Ganondorfs heavy voice said, carrying over through the wind like a song of death – the drum roll of an execution. _

_Link said nothing, putting all of his efforts into getting his lungs breathing in a normal pattern again; a feat which was taking too long for the hero's comfort as the massive man steadily walked closer, unsheathing his white and glowing blade from his waist. _

_"What seems to be the matter?" Ganondorf asked, a cruel grin spreading across his face, "getting tired? I'm just warming up I'm afraid. I would have liked it better if you and that whore of a Twili fought at the best of your game; but easy kills are somewhat satisfying depending on the target…" _

_"…Most specifically you." _

_As Link tried and tried again to stand up, he couldn't help but feel the beast swelling up inside of him, vaguely hearing Midna growling and showing off sharp teeth. He felt his mouth bar into an inhuman snarl, gripping his sword tightly; rage boiled into the Hero's blood, eyes sharpening their focus on Ganondorf, harder and crueler than any other look he had given to anything since he started this whole adventure. The animal in Link snapped at the Evil King's face as both drew blades, making a deathly 'X' in the air, sparks of magic and metal falling to the ground. But, Ganondorf more at his senses then the Hero, let go of the block faster than Link could react to, cutting him in his sword arm's shoulder. _

_Link didn't even hiss in pain; not one utterance. He didn't feel a thing. _

_Because Midna was gone. From him. _

_Forever. _

_

* * *

_

Link's eyes slowly opened to the moon light pouring into his rented room window, not in any way startled or frightened by the memory he had just seen. He had grown used to it by now; especially how dry his mouth would be once sleep evaded him. He dared not move his limbs, hoping that perhaps he would drift off into slumber again, but the moon's light kept his eyes open and alert. He let out a long sigh, refilling his lungs with air and repeating the process as he slowly got up and gathered his things. Now that he was awake, he figured there was no point remaining in a place that had nothing required of him.

Before he had fallen asleep that night, he had been humming and hawing over meeting his old resistance friends. Specifically meeting them in a location that he would rather not make public to anyone other than for himself – in a way he felt like the Sacred Grove was his, and his alone, to have and to protect. Why he had those feelings, he didn't understand; if someone took that the wrong way, they probably would surmise Link to be selfish. Of course he was anything but. In any case, the inevitable had come. Link knew that someday the place would be rediscovered, looked at, researched, and turned over. Still, the idea made his skin crawl knowing what went on there with him and a certain individual.

Part of the problem was that he was planning to go there himself to retrieve a certain sword from it's pedestal. Whatever Zelda wanted him to investigate on Snow Peak could be anything and if it truly involved dark magic, he needed the Master Sword more than ever.

Albeit, Link was not excited to see the look on Shad, Ashei, and Auru's faces when he would pull the sacred weapon out like it was no mean feat, when on their part they had probably tried many times to yank the sword free. The hero could just picture the awkward silence that would take place between the group – a stare here and a twitch of the mouth there, everyone unwilling to say anything until Auru would state the obvious, Shad would adjust his glasses, and Ashei would give him a hard mountaineer stare. And him? What would he do? Just stare back? Dare them to question his authority over all things that needed justice and courage? Tell them that, yes he was indeed a hero of legend and apologize that he hadn't told them sooner? The whole scenario played in his head over and over as he put on all of his garments, boots last.

He looked out the window at the full moon, wishing for just a little while he could turn into the wolf and howl at It like he used to, Midna laughing at him as she sat on his back like a steed howling to the sky in tune. His fingers twitched, and the thought vanished out of his head.

Link guessed that whether he liked it or not, he would have to go to the Sacred Grove sooner or later. He doubted Zelda would like him lollygagging around while this new possible threat loomed over the horizon.

It was just so hard to admit what he had done to and for others.

Rubbing his hands over his face, and grabbing everything he had brought with him, he quietly slipped out of the room and walked like a cat down the stairs, never making a single sound as he opened the entrance door.

At least he would have a nice morning ride before a depressing afternoon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Oh my dear gosh I'm sorry! I've kept you guys waiting for way too long, but I guess that's what the holidays do to ya. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, and I also apologize if this chapter feels a little... choppy? I don't know how to put it. I don't feel necessarily proud of it - but it'll have to do for now because I need to get on to the later chapters of this things! I'm giving a lot of foreshadowing and I sure hope I didn't butcher it in some way. You guys will be the judge of that. **

**Not sure when I'll be able to update next, but I couldn't really give you a guess even if I wanted to. Chapters sometimes take awhile, especially when I don't feel inspired. BUT the next chapter is sure to hold some surprises, along with this one. **

**Anyway, enjoy the read guys. And please review if you can. I know it be in-cumbersome but please do. It let's me know if people really like this or not. **

**I also apologize for any of the... uh... grammatical errors. Not sure how well I did with that this time around. **

**Shutting up now. Go and read!  
**

Chapter 6: Untold

The Twilight Palace was oddly quiet without it's energetic monarch around and even with all the guards searching high and low for her, Warren felt more useless then the stack of papers on his desk. It felt like he had been staring at the twilight sky for hours when it had only been a few minutes before he decided to take sanctuary in his office, unable to gain any information on Midna's whereabouts. The only conclusion he could come to was that no one saw Midna leave. It made the poor councilor guilty; probably guiltier than he ever had been. One of his priorities was to keep the queen safe and protected and now Midna was off somewhere alone – maybe even hurt. Though the stubborn monarch could probably take care of herself, Warren always told her that the unknown was to be most feared.

And now Midna was in the unknown.

The older councilors shared Warren's concern for their missing queen, but in a way that Warren didn't exactly feel comfortable with. Silvix and Maria in particular… possibly even Devind. There was something in their tones that made Warren feel on edge…

And it always had to do with, "baby."

Warren's spine tingled while his stomach did a flip flop. He decided not to dwell on it. He instead took one of the many forms on his desk to read. However, as much as he tried to absorb the details in the form, his thoughts would always wonder in worry, and eventually he couldn't take to reading anymore. His hands were shaking too badly to even hold the damn piece of paper anyway.

With the lack of being able to do anything, Warren merely sighed; he didn't like feeling this inactive.

And now, since he was so sure that he couldn't accomplish anything, he quietly looked down at a drawer in his onyx stone desk and looked around the room to make sure no one was watching. He knew nobody was there, but it was a force of habit rather than anything else. His glowing turquoise fingers pulled the lowest drawer out, and revealed a delicately crafted pipe, complete with light worlder tobacco.

He smiled to himself while taking out his precious pleaser, stuffing a little bit of the tobacco into the pipe and lighting a fire with his magic attuned fingers. The insides of the pipe glowed, and took an intake of the fumes, exhaling like a dragon in slumber and sighing contently. Finally it felt like he could breathe a little bit.

He kept thanking Sheik over and over in his head for this. He had been friends with the strange interloper for a while now, and his visits with the red eyed individual had been very secret. Sheik offered the pipe and tobacco as a gift of friendship, claiming it used to be his; he exclaimed that he decided to quit the habit, and in the moment of reminiscence Warren thought he was crazy for quitting. Each puff made the Twili calmer and thoughtful as he looked at the smoke rising to his quarter's ceiling. The worries blew away with the billowing smoke, gently exiting his window into the twilight world.

Though the smoking was nice, there was still the worry for his Queen. And no amount of addiction was going to get rid of that.

For a moment, he wished that Sheik was here, replenishing his tobacco supplies – Sheik telling him that eventually it'll be the death of him. Him saying that he didn't care because it felt good, and such a lie was not tolerated in his office.

He half expected him to just appear there, but no recognizable flash of light came.

But that's when he started hearing familiar voices down the hall. Very familiar stuffy voices… Silvix and Maria.

Hurriedly, he stuffed the pipe away, extinguishing the heat from within and fanned the scent of the smoke out the window. He decided not to wait and see if the other two councilors would enter his quarters, due to the stench that the smoke left behind. He didn't want to explain exactly what it was to any Twili who seemed to have a phobia against light worlders and their things. After he presumed that he fanned enough, he quickly darted out of his office and ran into the two unsuspecting councilors. Maria frowned, making remarks to Warren's nerve and rudeness but Silvix just kept her head high, as if the sudden burst of energy was merely a nuisance and nothing more.

"Glad to see you are your normal and excitable self, Warren," Maria grimaced, her remark biting on his behavior.

Warren tried to act surprised, "Oh! Uh… Lady Maria, and Lady Silvix! What a pleasant surprise!"

" ' _Pleasant' _you say? You almost made me fall over-"

Silvix snorted, "Please, Maria… save the man from your pride. He was just in a hurry… but to where exactly?"

Truly, the sudden question caught Warren off guard. It wasn't natural for Silvix to be suspicious and the inquiry only made the poor councilor stutter in the fasted lie he could think of, "I, uh… I… needed to get… something from yonder… nothing special."

Maria cringed suddenly, her black nose upturning with disgust, "What is that… horrible smell Warren?"

Perhaps he hadn't done that great of a fanning job.

"What smell? I don't smell anything-"

Silvix ignored their banter, obviously coming towards his office with something in mind. She hissed, claiming her annoyance with their childish bickering, "Honestly Maria, act like an elder."

The comment was quick and precise, hitting Maria's ego and elderly status with venomous intent.

Maria scoffed, blowing off the unnaturally wicked comment from Silvix, "Whatever you want, Silvix. Just hurry it up would you? _You _can have fun explaining it to him."

"You're staying right here fellow councilor. You agreed."

Warren raised a red and glowing eyebrow in confusion, "Uh… what did you come down here for exactly? I am incredibly busy and-"

"I promise this won't be a waste of your time Warren," Silvix easily answered, her strange cat-like eyes shining in a mysterious shade of deep blue. Her red markings on her arms and exposed neckline seemed to flicker for a moment.

"It had to deal with Midna, so I thought I should let you know-"

"Let me know what?"

Maria's red eyes flashed, "Would you stop interrupting people all the time? You do it enough to me in the council hall…"

"Just keep silent, the both of you!" Silvix's patience all but dissolved, her markings glowing in intensity and quick anger, "We came to you Warren, because you should know something… seeing as you are the youngest member of the councilors and all. There are certain traditions to keep in the Twilight, and it would be rude of us _not _to tell them to you…"

Warren furrowed his brow in question, "But, the councilors all showed me what was necessary when I ascended into the Council itself. Devind showed me everything. And considering he is the eldest of all of us, I doubt he missed something-"

"Oh come now, Warren," Maria said, cocking her hip to the side and pulling her yellow hair behind her back as if she were still young and spry, "You don't believe Devind told you _everything_. Everything requires a lifetime. You have hardly lived that in Twili standards, fellow councilor."

"The point she's _trying _to make," Silvix continued, "Is that Devind did not tell everything, because none of us foresaw this strange… event happening."

Warren remained to look somewhat confused, "What? You mean Midna being pregnant? That's quite the common affair in the Twilight World, Silvix. I'm sure the both of you know."

"Yes, but I certainly wasn't impregnated with a _Light Worlder's _spawn."

"What's your point, woman?" Warren asked, wishing he could get away at any moment. He just wanted to go back in his office and smoke.

The blue-eyed Twili sighed, "It means, Warren, that her… condition must be resolved. No child between a light worlder and a Twili can exist. It is against everything that we, as the people of the Twilight, stand for."

"I'm… not sure if I follow-"

"The spawn must die, Warren."

The comment was so blunt to Warren's ears, he could have sworn he just imagined the response. But, after he thought it over for a moment and looking at Silvix's gaze of stone, Warren was quite certain that this woman meant what she said. And apparently, the other council members agreed with the idea.

"Uh… isn't that the queen's choice, Silvix? I would think the Queen's own… child resided in her dominion and not ours."

Maria rolled her eyes, "On normal circumstances, yes. But, this is a special case Sir Warren. The Twili and The world of Light should never mix. This has crossed all previous boundaries. Needless to say, the… slip up must be destroyed. For the sake and will of our way of life. It is law."

The youngest council member was thoroughly silenced into a stupor. The Queen's, "Condition?", "Her spawn?", "Slip up?" Were these the names that they were giving the life inside his Queen? They wanted to kill the poor thing? All because of who the _father _might have been? Warren felt sick, almost as he had been put down by the two elderly women himself. He tried to hide the feeling from his face, but he couldn't help but feel that some blood had escaped from the upper portion of his body. Now he _really _wanted a smoke.

"You're saying… that all this searching is so we can bring her back and… take care of her… "Condition", as you put it?"

Silvix's eyes narrowed, "Don't take that tone with me Warren. Don't act as if we're the enemies here. We are going to do what is _best _for the Twilight Realm. You should be agreeing with us."

"Why, pray tell, _should _I be agreeing with you? The council is able to have it's own opinion on issues, even if they are outnumbered."

Maria sighed, "True, Warren. But it seems you are outnumbered anyway, and not one difference of opinion is going to stop the Council's decision. The responsibility in finding Midna has fallen upon _you _and your opinion does not matter to the majority vote."

"You need to get her back here Warren," Silvix chided in a low yet dangerous voice, "Otherwise the council would think that you have shirked you're duties. And we won't defend you because of your… point of view."

Warren exhaled through his nose, frustrated, "You're claiming that I didn't agree with you. I'm certainly uncomfortable with the circumstances, but that doesn't mean we have to _kill _the child, does it?"

Silvix's blue eyes bored into Warren's, "Believe me, Warren when I say that killing a threat to our kind wouldn't be a mistake. That child is neither twili, nor a creature of the light and, as such, it must be dealt with. It will be an abomination Warren. As your elders, we know what we speak of. Devind would be able to tell you better than I, but we elders know what is to come if we let that child be born."

"You aren't making any sense councilor," Warren replied, folding his arms and becoming increasingly angry as the conversation went on, "I do not see how this future child will change the Twili's lives forever. It's one mere child, Silvix. One small child! What harm could happen?"

"Maybe in time you'll understand, young councilor… either way, you are still tasked to finding Midna. I wouldn't want to disappoint Devind."

Silvix left him in the hall without another word, Maria trailing behind with a smug look crossing her wrinkles. Warren wasn't sure if he wanted to absolutely throttle their necks or continue calling them awful names as they walked down to wherever they were off to next. He almost wanted to yell out, "traitors!", but he knew better than to accuse them of such a high crime. The fact that he couldn't do that made him rather depressed and he slinked back to the entrance of his office, all too eager to take another smoke from his light dweller pipe. With a heightened sense of rage, Warren opened his door with a new viciousness and then slammed it shut, all the while feeling suddenly confined to his role; he had not expected the council to take Midna's pregnancy as a… crime to their race. He wasn't even sure how to word it. Silvix and Maria… they couldn't even call Midna's child an actual child. Even if the idea of a half breed wasn't to his liking, the fact remained that there was life where his Queen stood… and for her most trusted councilors to conspire against something she probably willingly consented to made him dash toward his desk, rip open the lower drawer, and pop in his pipe with new tobacco. He breathed in that smoke, and he breathed it in _hard. _All be damned if anybody saw him.

"That pipe will be the death of you, you know."

The young councilor stopped sucking on his pipe for a split second, the recognizable voice freezing him to the spot. After everything he'd gone through today, he had not been expecting a visitor, least of all _him. _He debated in his head if he should just holler at him to go away, but decided not to, as it would be rude and Warren wasn't a rude Twili. But he certainly had his limits.

He didn't exactly want to test what those limits were.

"Sheik…" Warren said, pausing to take another smoke, "Haven't seen you around in some time… did you bring me more tobacco?"

"Warren, I would love to tell you that, yes, I've brought you more tobacco, but considering the urgency of my current situation, no I did not."

"Damn. I'm running low."

"figures, considering you smoke way too much for your own good. I'm telling you now and forever that that stuff will be the death of you. I quite for my health Warren, my _health._"

Warren let out the breath of smoke he was holding in a thin line, ignoring Sheik's warnings and all too content with his pipe to really care.

"You know what my response to that is?" the councilor continued, his stream of smoke finished, "I don't think I mind my health slipping away at this point. Considering that, at the moment, I feel like this kingdom has gone astray in one evening without it's ruler."

Sheik sat at Warren's desk, his look passive; however, the councilor knew that for all the emotion lacking in the face of his friend, the unimpressed expression stood out the most. He gently was tapping his wrapped fingers against the onyx stone, his cruel red eye locked onto his position. This unnerved him a tad, considering Sheik was a friend (a very trusted friend due to their past) and his behavior did not mirror this. After a moment longer, Warren decided to take back the "unimpressed" opinion, and went with the scrutiny look instead.

The Sheikah was scrutinizing him?

"Sheik… what's wrong? You seem put out."

The masked man's gaze didn't falter, but he did sigh, "If I can't tell you to stop, perhaps _she _can." One of Sheik's hands casually pointed towards Warren's closet off to his left.

"What do you mean she-?"

A familiar frustrated growl erupted from the closet, and immediately the doors opened to reveal a disheveled, distressed, and most of all disoriented Midna, Queen of the Twili.

Warren dropped his pipe to the floor.

"My- My Queen what are you doing with… with _him_?"

Midna growled, "How the hell do _you _know him??"

"Midna, here I was thinking that you were lost to the twilight sky, and yet here you are safe and sound –"

The councilor felt like kicking himself.

Sheik's eyes remained on Warren, "I believe, you have come to realize, that Midna is safe nowhere? Perhaps?"

"What are you babbling about?" Warren thundered, the symbols on his arms glowing more harshly than normal. He felt defensive.

The masked man's cheeks upturned, suggesting a smile underneath his well placed shawl, "By this point you should know what I'm talking about."

The younger Twili was becoming more confused as the day went on. He was becoming tiresome of people's games, and his voice reflected as such, "If… if nowhere is safe for her, then why in all of twilight did you come back _here_?"

Midna scoffed, "Because I didn't want to leave you in the hands of old people… and possibly because I trust you, Warren. I couldn't go running off with this stranger now could I?"

And for some reason, this little fact made the Twili feel better.

Sheik coughed, "So now that there is three of us escaping the Twilight Realm, I suggest we go _now_. This detour has cost us enough time…"

"And don't you dare bring that pipe."

* * *

Link stood in his basement with a livid look on his face.

Carrying his lantern (in a white knuckled grip), he illuminated the one object in his basement that he most despised. He never understood why he kept it – never even thought it was still down here. Even though he was secluded in his own house for three months, he had never saw the thing until today, and for that he was cursing his instinct to even come back here temporarily.

He wasn't sure why he hated it so much; perhaps it was because it was green. Or maybe it was a reminder of what he was and could never be again. At least, in _his _opinion he felt like he couldn't be the hero he used to be.

The garment of the ancient hero sat, folded neatly, on top of a storage box. The light from Link's lantern made the chainmail glitter, reflecting onto the basement walls and on his face. The light made his eyes squint a little, which made him no less annoyed with the object of his current interest… or disinterest if there was a difference. He looked at it like it was the enemy; the garment certainly didn't do any favors for him in the past year… so many memories… so many _bad _memories and yet the good ones danced at the edge of the Hero's mind, wanting to be brought to the forefront but being pushed back by the mere presence of his duty. He didn't want to put it on. He didn't want anything to do with it anymore. He didn't want it. Didn't want it, didn't want it, didn't want it…

Link's right hand was burning an _inferno_.

_"Defy the Gods will you?" _it seemed to say in his ear, _"Defy the Gods and shirk your will to moths and rats? And what will they do? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing." _

The Ordonian had to look away from the pile of clothing, as if he wasn't worthy to gaze at it anymore.

_"Shame on you hero. Shame. Your _duty _and your _faith _calls you and yet you stand there like a petrified tree. Don the garb, hero. Don it and wear it proudly like you did before. Wear the hero's green for all to see! Shine! Shine!" _

Link didn't feel like moving an inch, but the burning in his hand was beginning to feel unbearable. He wasn't sure if he was feeling guilty or if it was that stupid piece of gold talking.

"This was stupid…," Link muttered, his other hand rubbing his face as if he was trying to gain back his sanity. Here he was, staring at some old clothes in his basement thinking the outfit was out to get him. Yet, for some reason, his instincts brought him back to the old tunic, wanting him to put the _damn thing on_.

"Out of all the set-backs I could have come up with, this had to be the one…," Link said, cringing as he finally decided to put the lantern down. Muttering to himself, he picked the garment up from the storage box and for a while, really questioning why he was so mad at the thing. In the long run it was only clothes. Nothing more.

"…Putting them on wouldn't hurt…"

Surprisingly, putting on the hero's tunic was easier than Link thought it would be. It felt lighter than it did before, somehow.

Link brushed off some of the dust that collected on the garment, giving his boots a good tap and his belt a slight adjustment before he was satisfied with the fit. The tunic still fit him like it was custom made, the gloves were taught and snug, and the pants were still in good condition. Everything was almost how it was when he put it away down in the basement; even the strange hat. He never really understood why he wore the silly thing, but for some reason he felt like it belonged on his head. Midna had once said that she liked it – that it matched him. Of course, he had to wonder at all the people who had stared at him before due to how ridiculous it probably looked.

He snidely thought the Goddesses had a strange fashion sense.

Now that the garment was on, Link didn't seem to have any more reason to stay. His duty from Princess Zelda was coming to him fast – but the procrastination he felt in asking for help from his old resistance friends was beginning to grow heavier in his gut. During the journey to Ordon, he kept having second doubts, wondering if whether or not he should just head straight for Snow Peak. But, the idea was pretty out of the question, seeing as he probably needed his Master Sword for the job.

In the end, the Ordonian wasn't getting out seeing Auru, Ashei, and Shad so easily. He outwardly groaned, grumbling to himself about circumstance and duty as he climbed up the ladder, walking to his front door. He decided to just jump off to avoid climbing down the ladder outside.

For a moment he paused at the entrance to Ordon Village, wondering whether or not to go in and say hello after his long reprieve of the outside world. Nobody had seemed to notice that he had once again become active and alive to say the least.

And then the next instant, he decided to forget it. He didn't want to think about her.

Ilia.

He roughly got back on Epona and road back into the woods, past Ordon Spring and eventually past Faron's Spring as well. The waters of each were pleasantly calm, the Spirits probably as passive as their waterfalls. The spirits had not made any appearance to him in a very long time and Link guessed it was probably a good thing – if they did talk to him, there was probably something deeply wrong with Hyrule. He just hoped Zelda's problem she presented wouldn't get that bad.

When the wood became too thick for Epona to travel in, Link let her rest as he got off and headed the rest of the way on foot. The forest, no longer feeling dangerous to the hero's senses, had a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, vibrating with ancient wisdom and magic as it once did before the twilight. The breeze was warm, the sun was high, and for some reason Link felt more at peace here than anywhere else he had been on his adventures. He felt alive; almost as if this green world was his, and his alone.

He finally came to the Forest Temple, the massive hollowed out tree jutting out from the green chasm below. The place seemed awkwardly quiet to the Ordonian, probably due to the memories of the dangers that lurked inside. He felt a wave of nostalgia overtake him, but he kept walking on his original route. To his surprise, he found someone or someones had built sturdy bridges leading to the more secluded parts of the forest. For a minute, Link felt mildly irritated; even to go so far as to think someone had trespassed, but he pulled his feelings back in, remembering that these woods were not his. Like he had reasoned last night, it was only inevitable when someone's curiosity was going to push people ever closer to Hyrule's lost secrets.

The Ordonian took an unsteady step onto the newly built bridges, finding that they were quite sound and heading down the construction with the lead feeling growing heavier in his gut. His destiny was being dragged up again after three months of hiding it away in a pathetic attempt to justify the need of seclusion. The wind whispered his name in his ear as he walked further, encouraging to take the next brave step forward in the Goddesses' stead. Link grimaced when he finally walked into the ancient wood, it's name lost to the passages of time, and proceeded in the direction to where the Temple lay in it's eternal rest.

The walk was easy and uninterrupted, and Link finally reached his destination – the ruins of the old temple lay still, welcoming the hero with open arms as he walked under the old archways and trees. The old marble statues, permanently in a state of melancholy and hope, welcomed him.

Link more or less felt fairly afraid of the old things.

The voices of his friends where carried to his ears as he came closer, the anxiety in his chest building up like a clogged up geyser. Yet, he still walked on, not faltering with what he knew he had to do. It didn't matter what their reactions would be. What he needed was in that grove, and the only way he could fulfill Zelda's order was to be prepared for anything, dark magic or not. In the end, it came down to his duty.

The voices of Shad and Ashei drifted up first as he went through the worn entrance, a seemingly heated argument going on between them. Though, if the argument was serious, Link couldn't really guess.

"Shut up, Shad yeah!? Stop laughing at me! I couldn't get it out – stop laughing at me you bastard!" Ashei shouted, her voice carrying alarmingly well in such a calm and tranquil place. If she cared she didn't seem to show it.

Shad was laughing harder then Link ever had in his life, "Ashei, dear girl! I'm only laughing because we knew you couldn't do it!"

"I don't care if I couldn't do it, yeah!" The mountaineer exclaimed, "The point is you laughed at the fact that I tried. You don't think I'm capable Shad? _Do you think a woman isn't capable of lifting a sword out of a pedestal? _I dare you to tell me otherwise, Mr. Scholar."

Ashei's accent was thick with rage and complete with the lividness of a snake. At this point, the hero couldn't help but try and spy in on his old friends before he stepped in to reveal himself. He had never heard the mountaineer so _angry _before.

At her biting remark, Link saw Shad scoff – shaking his glasses from his nose in the process – and exclaimed, "Why… Ashei dear girl why would I imply such a thing! I was trying to tell you before that the Sword has ancient pacts and – "

"Why should I give a yeti's _ass _about old magics?"

"Because that's what's binding the sword to that Pedestal, Ashei! Dear Goddesses and sky woman! We told you this five times and _now _you're getting mad?"

Shad sounded rather pathetic now, Ashei's righteous anger burning out the truth in Shad's statements. Link felt rather sorry for him – but the Ordonian's pity wasn't stopping Ashei, "Why do you think I couldn't be a hero, yeah? What, you think only _men _have a right to be the stupid, 'Ancient Hero of Legend?' Well screw that concept. Gods, Shad."

"Ashei, stop yelling at me like it's my fault you couldn't pull out the Sword! Legends didn't lie when they stated the Sword was choosey!"

"Prejudiced is more like it."

"Ashei! The Gods will strike you down one day I swear it!"

"Oh, yeah? Well the Goddesses can suck on their hero's –"

SNAP.

Link wanted to swear vehemently, but he decided that the twig he stepped on did more than enough damage. Ashei and Shad's heads swiveled behind them, their eyes immediately connecting to the conjurer of the noise that had broken their argument. For a moment, their faces looked threatening (well, Ashei's did… Shad more a less pulled off an annoyed look with a bit of fear mixed in) but upon recognizing the intruder, their war hardened looks turned to that of surprised recognition towards an old friend.

"Link?" Shad disbelievingly said, "Is that…? Is that you, dear boy?" He finally was able to adjust his glasses properly, squinting at the figure which slowly stepped out of the tree's shadows.

The mountaineer had the same look on her face, her previous look of anger all but gone, "Holy shit, Link where've you been? We've been wondering when you'd show up, yeah?"

The Ordonian, not sure of how he should respond to them, merely waved his hand in a quick jutting gesture of a hello, complete with sheepish grin. The geyser that was ready to explode wasn't going to allow him to speak the way he wanted to, and he figured that getting general introductions out of the way was the best course of action.

In response to his wave, the two resistance fighters beamed at him.

"It's about bloody time you showed yourself!" Shad exclaimed, motioning for Link to come closer and further into the structure, "We've been waiting a long while for you to visit us."

Link cautiously raised an eyebrow, "Was I uh… interrupting something?"

Ashei and Shad looked at each other, and then too quickly they both said, "No."

"Ah… well, okay."

"No, Link! You came just in time," Shad eagerly said, his face expressing relief upon the hero's arrival, "You see, we have just recently found this ruin, and decided to investigate it. I'm guessing Telma told you where we were?"

"Oh… well, yes. Yes she did. She gave me pretty good directions. The bridges helped a tad," Link awkwardly replied, trying to remove all recognition of the Sacred Grove out of his head. Luckily for him, he had a knack for hiding evidence like that. However, he couldn't help but feel as if he was making the situation worse for himself.

Ashei gave him a hardy look, "Well, I certainly know one other person who'd be happy to see you. Auru is in the main chamber now. We should catch up there, yeah?"

"Er… of course! I… I've got some news to share with you all… a lot of it."

Shad and Ashei all but dragged him into the very familiar main chamber, the marking of the Triforce still visible even through all the undergrowth and erosion. A small camp had been established around the emblem, tent hooks purposefully avoiding important looking things like ancient pillar bases and engravings. Shad's notebooks were strewn about hastily set up working areas, Ashei's equipment stayed close to her tent, and Auru's things were few and far between. Link guessed he merely came along for the mere pleasure of seeing some of Hyrule's history, and thus decided not to take anything too heavy. As for Auru himself, the old wanderer stood next to a strange alter that Link regarded when he had first came to this place. He was intently studying it, carefully touching it's surface and probably admiring the craftsmanship.

At this point Link wanted to turn around and go home again. But his right hand was burning too much – like it was making him stay.

At the younger peoples' footsteps, Auru stopped what he was doing and stood up straighter, looking at first curious but then quite overjoyed to find who was with his young wards.

"Link!" Auru said in his dusty old voice, "I suppose investigating these ruins did bring up something good."

"I… I suppose it did," The Ordonian awkwardly replied, taking more interest to the top of his boots that anyone's faces," So uh… how've you all been doing?"

Ashei gave him a hearty slap on the back, "Not much other than this – we should be asking you the same question _Mr. Adventurer_."

Link gave them a halfhearted snort, "Well, not much really. Haven't been quite the adventurer you imagine me to be in the last few months."

"Oh you haven't? Dear boy, then what have you been doing? We thought you had left," Shad stated, looking a bit confused.

"I did…," Link admitted, but he quickly changed the subject to not dwell on the very short trip he made just before his three month exile, "but… I came back a short time after. I have just been in my home village until now. I uh… I was summoned by Princess Zelda – an urgent request from her."

Auru looked impressed, "Princess Zelda called you herself did she? Well… must be rather important lad! Tell us. What did you come here for?"

The Ordonian could feel the knot in his stomach getting even tighter. He wished that it would stop soon for the sake of his dignity.

"Well, first I was actually going to ask for your help," Link admitted freely, "I figured you three would be interested, so…"

Shad's eyebrows shot up, "Help? Help with what exactly, Link?"

Link saw a rather hard slap connect to the back of the scholar's head from a peeved looking mountaineer, "Oh come on Shad, use your brain like I think you do. If Princess Zelda asked help from him it must be important. Considering he was the sole person who managed to rescue her, yeah?"

"Let the young man speak Ashei," Auru ordered.

The hero sighed, "Well, it's… there's something going on Snow Peak, and I have been charged to investigate what it is. She actually requested that I bring you three, considering your services from before. I mean, you helped Hyrule as much as I tried to."

"Well!" Shad exclaimed, looking rather happy from behind his spectacles, "Isn't this rather exciting! Called upon the Princess herself to execute a superior order of investigation! What a thrill this might turn into! And into a field which Ashei knows much about no less!"

Ashei huffed, "Don't get _that _excited Shad. Snow Peak is everything you hate. Hiking, snow, and freezing cold temperatures. Plus Wolves. Nobody likes wolves."

Link couldn't help but resent that.

"Well, that's interesting," Auru stated, more to himself than to anyone else, ignoring a rebuttal from Shad targeted toward Ashei, which was something along the lines of 'I'm not that disinclined to hiking,' "So what was the other thing you came here for, Master Link?"

"Pardon?"

"You said that we were the first reason why you came here. What was the second?"

Taking in a breath, the Ordonian really wasn't sure how to respond at first. At the moment, he really didn't feel like bringing it up, but the story had to come out sooner or later, even if his friends didn't believe him.

"I'll… I'll tell you in a minute… how about you tell me what you're investigating first?"

The old adventurer looked mildly suspicious of the young man's sudden subject change, but (thankfully to Link) he decided not to dwell on it, seeing as the boy in green strung a strike of interest into what exactly they were doing there. Link knew _exactly _what they were researching, and he decided that actually confronting his destiny would be easier on everything else he had to do.

Eagerly, Auru, Shad, and Ashei led him into the anti-chamber of the structure. It was just how Link remembered it: fog had once again crept into the grove, giving the enclosed area somewhat of an eerie feel, but not by any means evil. The shadow of the trees kept the place hidden well, and the hero could feel his friends practically stop breathing – as if they would be punished by the ancient trees if they were not reverent. Everything was quiet here. Awkwardly silent – a chill crept up the back of Link's neck, becoming uncomfortable as the silence went on.

And then, as if it was planned by the goddesses themselves, the noonday sun shone down upon the object of interest.

The Master Sword – patiently waiting it seemed – stood tall and proud against the forest backdrop, the look of triumph somehow etched into it's inanimate features.

To Link, it felt as if the Sword was singing.

For a while, he couldn't take his eyes off it – wondering why in all the lands did he put the sacred blade back to where he had found it. But the answer easily came to him; he had not wanted it. Gave it up for a simpler life instead. But even then, that answer didn't justify why he didn't keep it.

The sword was somehow making him feel guilty. _Guilty _of all things…

"That," Auru said, his voice breaking the strange silence, "is what we're here for."

"Stupid thing," The mountaineer said, the resentment obvious in her tone, "I think it's a piece of junk."

Shad looked offended, "Oh, Ashei! Put resentment aside! It's one of the greatest artifacts of legend! The Weapon of Light, The Hero's Friend, The Piercer of Darkness, The Blade of Evils bane, the one and only-"

"Master Sword," Link finished quietly, his gaze fully on the blade now and tuning out the other's chatter.

"How… how did he know that?" Shad asked out loud, staring at him as the –unknown – hero walked toward the pedestal, a resolute feeling come off of the young man's frame.

"Link," Auru said, "What are you doing? You should probably –"

The doubt in the Hero's mind was slowly vanishing with every step he took toward the Sword – his sword he decided – and the voices of his peers started to evaporate with his inner silence. The Blade of Evil's bane was calling to him, and all he could do was answer as he continued toward it. The sword welcomed him with open arms, Link's hands eagerly wrapping them around the familiar blue hilt. Every crease and dent felt like an old friend that had long left underneath his leather gauntlets.

He heard Ashei laugh from behind him, "Oh, he thinks he can pull it out… well, Link don't be disappointed when you can't! Not sure if those Goddesses really appreciate goat herders touching their merchandise, yeah?"

Not really paying attention, the Ordonian merely pulled up, the old magic vibrating through his being; power, wisdom, and courage swirling around him as the wind swept through the grove. Light emitted from the crevice the sword rested in, and then the Master Sword slid easily out of it's resting place. Link twirled it, the blade now facing upward toward the sun, and marveled at it in the noonday sun as the fog mysteriously vanished from the Sacred Grove; the wielder of the Master Sword had returned from his exile and for some reason, Link could picture someone smiling somewhere.

"Oh my Goddesses he pulled it out," the mountaineer stated, almost in a comic manner due to the importance of the event. Shad merely put one of his hands over his mouth in delicate shock. Auru stood there; whether he was surprised or not didn't seem to show on the old man's features.

Link slowly turned around, the sheath of the Master Sword magically appearing on his back. He held his weapon in a tight grip and looked his friends in the eye.

"This… this was the second thing I needed."

* * *

**_As mentioned above! Please read and review! _**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long Hiatus guys. College tends to make me a fairly busy girl - but by no means does it make me stop entirely ;) . Been kind of chipping away at this sucker for the past few weeks, and since I was free tonight I finally decided to finish it up. The chapter actually felt kind of short, but by the time I was done I had already typed up 12 pages of text. Maybe I'm just too harsh on my shortcomings. XD

As far as chapter content goes, I'm not sure if I hit the exact mark that I wanted to convey in this chapter - I got it at some points, and then at others it didn't seem to fit in... There was a definite theme going on here, and I'm hoping some of you catch on with it.

Also, I hope none of you will be upset with my view on... Link's view about being a hero - I didn't really want him coming off as, "Hey... this sucks. I hate this" Because... well, in my head there's a part of him that absolutely _loves _it, but it probably won't come out until later chapters. I also hope that Midna didn't come out Mary Sue-ish here at the end... Reviews help me know if I'm going in too predictable of a direction with this, and so far I haven't been too off the beaten track as far as characterization goes. I hope I didn't miss my mark here.

Anyway, I'd really love it of you Read and Review! Not that I don't mind the loads of faves I'm getting, but I really do appreciate feed back - Even if it's just a short note, it helps keep me going on some of these things. I mean, I'll write because I want to - but it doesn't feel like I'm making an impact without some words from the readers...

Well, enough of my rambling. Enjoy the new chapter!

-Mudora

P.S. Oh and if any of you have questions, feel free to ask in a signed review or by e-mail. Thanks.

Chapter 7: Unrequited

As Link mentioned it to himself earlier that day, he indeed knew that it was going to end up rather depressing.

Pulling out the Master Sword was the easy part. Explaining _why _and _how _he could that was the hard part – spilling (in this case) the proverbial beans was not one of Link's fortes. Not to mention he was a horrible story teller. Trying to explain this to an intellectual, a cold hard fighter, and an old man with a thing for details was as easy as trying to sumo wrestle with a Goron (without the iron boots he might add). Nothing, in Link's head, could describe the quest that was his. It almost felt like he was flat out lying if he attempted it. The total concept that magic was deep, that Twilight beings existed, that he had faced an ancient evil and _won _would seem to them like an utter farce. _Nobody _knew what Twilight was, except Zelda and the cursed Ganondorf. No one knew Hyrule was a Twilight nightmare for a good few months.

And furthermore, no one knew that he, Link of Ordon, master of all things Goat Herder and blade alike literally carried the balance of Hyrule on his shoulders.

Yet, here he was, trying to explain to said intellectual, cold hard fighter, and an old man with a thing for details how exactly he saved the world excluding the little imp that used to be at his side.

And they _wouldn't stop starring at him. _

"_They must think I'm crazy right about now,"_ Link thought, sighing heavily out of his nose. The story he had just told didn't seem to get much of a reaction out of them other than total awe or paralyzing shock. The Ordonian wondered if they were too afraid to say much of anything, or about ready to call him a big malicious liar.

But the fact remained for all of them; Link wore the Master Sword proud and true, reluctant or not. Link wore the clothes of green worn by the ancient Hero and were supposedly given to him by the Light Spirits. He had been practically everywhere in Hyrule, seen all of it's mysteries and braved her dangers. Link had the look of a hardened fighter – a look that made Ashei's folded steel glare look like melting wax . He made Shad's puzzles seem like general politics, figuring out things that would have taken Shad years to discover. But most of all, he fooled Auru into thinking he was just another young man, brave and unyielding to serve his country. Fooled the old man into thinking that he was just a county bumpkin who knew nothing of the world, when he in fact knew _everything _there was to know. Link had defeated evils beyond his years and due to this, his friends could not deny that he really was, in a way, the one soul who saved Hyrule from it's inner rot.

Their gazes reflected this, and Link wished he hadn't told them. He didn't want to talk about it. He only felt indifferent towards it – he pulled at his hair in frustration, trying to act like an adult but knew he was merely a boy in a dead warrior's wardrobe. The effects of war and violence were at bay when _she _was there, but his Twilight Princess was gone. And with her absence, came the livid ordeals he had faced and the blood he had lost in spite of them. He didn't want the hero to become him, even though he was the hero; it was like there was two different halves to him, and his friends could only look at the one that did all the things he said. _He _was the one that was famous. Link the Hero of Hyrule did all those things. Not the Link of Ordon.

In all honesty, he felt like sobbing. But a quick rub of his face made sure the event didn't happen. It probably would have just made things worse.

"_Goddesses I feel like a kid again," _ Link thought bitterly, blowing his bangs out from his eyes, only to let them fall in the exact same place.

To make matters even worse, during the entire recap of his story he was bombarded by memories of Midna and their time spent together. Mostly in the Sacred Grove – probably the memory he would want to spend the least amount of time on considering his company. His brain wouldn't stop spouting off that, 'YES you had _sex _here! You made love with her! Intercourse! Whatever you want to call it! The fact remains that something like _that _doesn't leave your memory so quickly now does it?'.

And every time he thought of that, it hurt; probably more than he would have liked to admit, but the feelings were there beyond all the hurt. The love, and the still ever increasing anxiety that maybe, someday, she would come back – all be damned if the mirror was broken. She would do it, because Heroes were meant to have happy endings. With Midna… he felt like he could be himself. He could be the Hero and the Goat Herder of Ordon… even the beast that hinged at the edge of his awareness. He could be all those things around her.

He used to be able to be the same around his Light World friends. Link the Goat Herder used to be important to them – and that was what frustrated him the most. He knew that if he told that story, Link the Goat Herder would be no more.

And as he had contemplated in his house not too long ago, Link of Ordon didn't seem to be around much at all anymore.

All the Ordonain could do was just groan morosely and hope for the best to come out of this.

"So… you're really telling us… that you did all those things, Yeah?" Ashei commented, giving him the all too familiar look of, 'I'm not sure I believe you quite yet', "You aren't lying to us, yeah?"

Link, in all of his lack of communication skills proceeded to give Ashei the most sullen, unimpressed, yet dull expression he could muster. The mountaineer just nodded slowly, accepting the fact that the Ordonian wasn't a liar of any sort, and if he had lied they all would have known. In any case, Link's faces more or less answered their simple questions.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell us sooner," Auru rumbled, his fingers mildly playing with his white, cropped beard, "I mean… that's quite the important news, Link. You are proof that the legends aren't just stories, you know."

Shad looked rather sympathetic, "We could have helped you, dear boy… it's quite the burden you have isn't it?"

The retired goat herder certainly agreed with Shad, averting his gaze from his friends for a moment, "It's the burden I have, and it's the burden I must live with. I… don't think I was necessarily ready, but… things worked out in the end and that's all that matters. And… you did help me. Probably in not big or magnificent ways – but you still helped, and for that I'm extremely grateful."

A moment of silence washed over the group, but Ashei (who wasn't exactly keen toward awkward situations) decided to break it, "So… was it… hard for you?"

Sighing, Link looked up at her, "It was hard, but certainly not impossible. I had interesting… guidance."

He began to quietly remember all the lucky breaks he and Midna had on their adventure – the sword fighting lessons, being able to change into a wolf, and Midna's magical knowledge of things he could only dream of. He had to acknowledge that even though being the hero was hard, it definitely had it's own perks. For instance, the Goddesses were on his side – and even though it seemed like they were never there, he was constantly reminded otherwise with the company he kept. It almost felt like the great deities of the world were guiding him themselves, each in their own kind of way.

"Well," Auru suddenly said, breaking Link out of his inner thoughts, "I'm just glad, as we all are, that you aren't dead. I'm sure Farore calls up many heroes; very few seem to make it out alive."

Link gulped uneasily, "I.. uh… I'm not doubting it."

The old wanderer merely chuckled, "Oh, I didn't mean to scare you or anything, young man. I only mean to say that this generation is lucky to have a victorious hero to help watch over Hyrule as the kingdom rebuilds itself. Anything could go wrong in this crucial period, and I for one am glad that you decided to come to us for help on your current mission."

Feeling grateful for the subject change, Link smiled at his old friends, "I'm not sure what to expect up there, but if it's enough to gain Zelda's attention then I suppose it's definitely something to worry about."

Shad adjusted his glasses, "Well then, I suppose we shouldn't waste anymore time. We probably should pack all this up, seeing as Link is so gracious enough to bring our object of interest along for the ride!"

"That sword better be amazing as all the stupid books say it is," Ashei bitterly noted, her accent becoming rather thick again, "Otherwise I'm just going to break the thing, yeah?"

"Ashei, you know very well that the sword cannot be broken-"

"Shut up, Shad, yeah?"

Link calmly smiled at his comrade's antics, enjoying the minor banter before the real quest began. He had been right that morning when he thought that this reunion would be depressing…

But he didn't remain that way for long.

It was nice to be in good company.

* * *

The edge of the Realm of Twilight was a dangerous place for a Twili to be, and rightly so; for at the edges stood the remains of Ganondorf's twisted dreams and fantasies of gaining the full power of the Gods. For most of her life, the Queen did not really consider the edges of her realm until the World of Light shined down upon her ignorance with it's bloody history and taint. No world, it seemed, had any less horrible secrets. She remembered terms like, "The Sacred Realm" – a heaven among the Hylians and other races. Midna knew the term quite well, but did not put it in good standing like Link or Zelda did. She looked down upon it, blaming her ancestors to a life spent in half-light and half truths. The Sacred Realm was something left unmentioned in any conversation with Twili. But, being Midna, she moved past those things quickly – she couldn't change her history, and she couldn't change the deplorable acts her ancestors committed. Trying to place dominion over hallowed ground through power and sheer will alone was the strategy of a fool…

And Ganondorf was further proof of it.

As Midna and her two entourages began to walk closer and closer to the edge of the Twilight, she knew why the, "Sacred Realm" hadn't been called sacred for nearly one hundred plus years:

The ebb and flow of the glowing twilight clouds grew more like fog here, dark and harsher than what she was used to. No light could be seen through the looming mass of vaporous shadow that sat over the horizon. Creatures of any realm did not come here, the flapping of giant twilight wings completely absent along with the presence of any known plant. For a minute, Midna had to question whether or not she should have just stayed behind at her Palace, but that was out of the question. Everything began to take on a more sinister guise – the rocks turned sharper, cliffs became higher, and there were whisperings in the back of Midna's mind from souls who passed on, warning her of the dangers that lurked beyond the half-lit veil.

From here on, this was the dark world – the soiled and rotten dreams which turned the great golden land into a void of endless torment and hell. A place where no man dared to enter or return from alive. Also a place in which not a lot of people still thought it existed. History easily slipped through the Light World's fingers, seeing as Link had no inkling that such a horrible place existed beyond the Twilight. The realm was everything it's sacred counterpart wasn't; everything that man feared, suffered from, or was tainted by would end up here in Ganondorf's twisted version of his own heart. For nearly a century the Twili defended it's own and the World of Light from it's influence, but now that Midna destroyed the mirror, the Twili were alone with the darkness that sat next to it's evening skies.

For a while after she shattered the mirror, Midna wondered how a man's heart could be so bitter and evil from the inside out – but then she decided there were secrets she'd never know.

Next to the Queen, Warren pretty much had the same expression on his face – a look of hardness towards the great black expanse. He knew probably as much as she did, and through both their wisdom, they knew to avoid this place. Yet, Sheik pressed on as if he were going to pass through a field of daises complete with butterflies and perhaps a nice picnic set up under a tree. Of course, that's what Midna _wanted _to think since her later companion was so void of emotion, she invented a game for herself – try to guess what Sheik is thinking. Usually it would end up being things that he definitely _wouldn't _be in his mind but it gave the Twili Queen no end of silly thoughts and giggles that had the Sheikah glance her way with a raised eyebrow sometimes.

The Sheikah also brought other things to mind; how did Warren know Sheik at all? As far as Midna knew, the Light World was a _long _way away from her own realm – yet, this Light Worlder seemed to pass through like it was a mundane chore. Her suspicions of Sheik were beginning to grow, and it didn't make her feel any more protected.

"I sure hope Shiek knows what he's doing…," Warren muttered under his breath, attempting to not look scared at the ever rising volume of darkness.

Midna shared Warren's thoughts exactly, "I do too Warren… which reminds me; how the hell do you know him?"

Her youngest councilor breathed out a heavy sigh, as if expecting this question to come up sooner or later. He resigned himself to her much too often, but Midna decided that she liked that quality in Warren – he was faithful to the end.

"I met him a while back, highness" Warren admitted, both still walking a fair distance away from the topic of conversation, "Before I became one of your councilors. Also, mysteriously after your wishes of breaking the mirror. I was fairly suspicious of him at first, but… after a while he seemed trustworthy. Our first few encounters were more like… information exchanges rather than conversation. "

Midna narrowed her eyes a little, "You're saying you didn't see him very often then? Like he avoided you?"

Warren thought for a moment, "Hmm… I wouldn't say, 'avoided'… more like observed. At least that's my guess. Even though I consider him my friend now, he's still more of a mystery than I'd like to admit, your highness."

"…Then how did you become friends exactly?"

Warren chuckled a bit, "To be honest with you, your majesty, I have no idea. His intentions seemed good and he brought no harm to anyone. As far as I could tell, he's as good as they come – I decided to take a bit of a gamble and see how things turned out. I suppose… considering the situation, it probably wasn't a bad idea to keep him around."

The Queen took on a pleased expression, "Oh Warren, do you ever _not _think like a politician?"

"I would like to think not."

"Now I remember why I wanted you in the first place."

The two exchanged a smile and Warren modestly bowed his head at the compliment. Midna was glad that she had bothered Sheik enough to bring along one of her most trusted friends and advisors. The strange red eyed man was completely against any other company from the beginning, but the minute the Queen mentioned Warren's name, Sheik seemed to change his mind enough to cave into Midna's demands.

"Still," Midna thought out loud, "Do you… trust him enough? I mean… do you think he is someone who could help me?"

Warren looked deep in thought for a moment, but replied to her smiling, "I trust him, my Queen. Beyond a doubt. I might not know him as much as he probably knows about me, but… I don't have any reason not to trust him."

Sighing, Midna decided to reign in any lingering questions that she had. It was obvious that Warren told everything that he could tell her about their companion that was leading them into the darkness. Needless to say, she would not rest easy until she knew of Sheik's true intentions; she would find out his secrets one way or another.

Ahead of them, Sheik suddenly stopped his stroll forward, making Midna and Warren awkwardly stop their own advance behind him – almost bumping into the stoic Sheikah. Practically two feet in front of the red eyed man was a portal to the darkness; Sheik stared at it with the same lack of emotion as ever, yet seeming to brace himself for the inevitable entry that everyone knew was coming. He stood like a pillar of light against the giant wall, and Midna wished she could be the same in Sheik's resolve. Warren looked more uneasy than the Queen thought possible on the councilor's face, and it was at this point where she _really _questioned Sheik's sanity.

For a while, all the Sheikah did was stand there, staring at the portal like a piece of artwork hanging on a wall. The Queen looked wryly at Sheik and then cast the same glance toward Warren, wondering whether her Twilight companion knew something about the red eyed man's odd behavior. Warren gave her a downturned mouth and an awkward shrug, meaning he probably had just as much imagination as Midna did. (None at the moment.)

Out of her ignorance, she addressed Sheik curtly, " Sheik, why in all of Twilight are we standing in front of a stupid portal when we could – I don't know – be walking through it and making progress?"

Sheik didn't answer her immediately, almost as if he were in a trance, but it more or less broke when he spoke, "This is indeed a portal to the dark realm, your highness… however, we are not going through this portal."

The Twili Queen wrinkled her small nose, "Alright… then what are we standing around for? Let's find a portal that we can go through-"

"We are waiting for the right one."

"Oh…"

"_Apparently,"_ Midna thought, pursing her lips at the Sheikah's back, "_ignorance is rewarded with a firm slap to the face. I'll be damned if he keeps treating _me _that way." _

Warren looked none too flustered himself, "Sheik, please make some sense. What do you mean we're waiting for the right one?"

Again, the red eyed man didn't answer immediately - his senses on a completely different plane than the one all three were currently in, "My intention is to not head into the Dark World. My path is quite different. I would not risk your Queen's safety in a horrid place such as that. Instead, I am searching for the remaining light that still lies within the darkness. "

"The light… within the darkness?" Warren echoed, his voice sounding more confused than confident.

"Yes," Sheik continued, "When Ganondorf first seized the Triforce and turned the Sacred Realm into the Dark World, not all light was blotted out by the Evil King's taint. I am waiting for an inside connection."

Midna, curious, gave a bit of a mischievous smile, "Ah… so that's how you do it, is it? Someone helps you come to and fro?"

"You sound as if that's a bad thing," the red eyed man turned, staring at Midna with his damnable iris, "I'm surprised… given your circumstances and experiences… highness."

The Queen snorted, making herself stand up straighter and folding her arms in an attempt to look more poised, "You say it as if you've watched me, Sheik. I have to wonder if you have been."

"I wouldn't be too surprised if I were you, " Sheik replied, turning back to the portal, "It is my duty to watch… and act when the time is right. Perhaps I did watch you and your consort… perhaps I did not – that is for you to decide. However, I suggest you let me concentrate."

In retaliation to Sheik's words, Midna merely stuck her tongue out at his back.

She stomped back toward Warren, who more or less was amused with the situation – however it was probably in his best interest to not say anything to the annoyed Queen of the Twili.

"Oh what the bloody hell does he know about _anything_?" Midna hissed, her teeth shining in an angry snarl as she increased the distance between Sheik and herself. Warren hoped this would not be her mood throughout the journey to find a safe place for her, but he decided not to give his hopes up. The advisor had to admit, Midna liked being the boss – and to have Sheik seemingly come out of nowhere telling her what to do was making the Twili Queen's attitude toward the Sheikah heated and full of popping blood vessels… or it would probably end up that way unless one of them backed down.

However, Warren didn't think that was likely.

After Midna paced back and forth a few times, she seemed to cool down from the minor annoyance Sheik was deciding on becoming and she decided to stand next to Warren. Both stared at the red eyed man for a moment as he concentrated, but she found it to be incredibly boring.

"He doesn't do that to you does he?" Midna asked.

"Not as often as he apparently does to you – and I've known him longer, your highness," Warren regarded calmly, his expression varying from amused or blank, "You two might have the same… uh… attitudes?"

The Queen scoffed, "Warren, we do not have the same attitudes. He's… all serious and dark. I'd like to think of myself as playful and mischievous."

"That you are, my queen," the advisor replied, a smile cracking through his resolve to stay emotionally out of Midna's turmoil, "But your personalities don't necessarily have to be alike to be… shall we say… stubborn?"

"Stubborn would be a good word for it." Midna kindly admitted, though she felt her pride twinge a little at the confession, "Of course… being stubborn isn't always a bad quality now is it?"

"Never said that it was," Warren replied, raising his black hands in defense, "Just saying that you two seem more alike than different to me is all."

The Queen growled, "Oh I've dealt with worse… in fact I know a certain _someone _who is probably more stubborn than anyone in any worlds combined. Yes, I suppose it is a good trait isn't it…"

Midna's comment seemed more to herself than to the general audience which listened. The advisor sat mildly confused as to the, "someone" that she mentioned, "Excuse me, your highness… but who did you mean?"

"Hm?"

"Who is the Someone that is apparently more stubborn than anyone anywhere?"

"Oh…," at this, Midna's demeanor shrank like a Twilight Hawk chick that was too scared to fly with the rest of it's kin. She felt her eyes glaze over – images and thoughts entering her head of the one and only Hero stuck on the other side of the Mirrior.

"Highness?" Warren questioned her, his voice concerned at full of worry, "Did I… should I not ask…?"

The Twilight Queen sighed, "Actually… maybe it would help if we talked about him a little bit. I… He's…"

Warren sounded wary when he spoke, "Is it… the one who… well… you know…"

"Yes."

"Ah."

"Listen Warren," Midna said suddenly, turning her body swiftly and placing her light hands on Warren's broad shoulders, "Warren, I… He's… I…"

"…You miss him, your highness?" Warren offered.

The queen's head drooped down, her hands still firmly placed on her advisor's shoulders, "Yes… yes I do… I thought that over time it would pass, but it seems things didn't really go my way… nothing ever does, does it?"

"Now I wouldn't say that your highness."

"What? That I miss him, or things don't go my way?"

"The later."

"Hmm."

Warren blinked slowly, "Who exactly was he?"

"You want the honest version?" Midna questioned, raising a glowing eyebrow slightly in some sort of ironic bemusement.

The advisor cracked another smile, "I tend to like that version the best, your highness. Of course, I can't make you lie or tell the truth."

"True," Midna reasoned, her hands returning to her lap, "But… I like you, and you out of anyone deserve the truth… you've been so good in the short time you've been in my service, Warren…"

The queen could practically see the pleased expression the other Twili had emanating from his frame, "Your majesty, you give me too much credit for what little I do for the Twilight Realm."

"No, Warren – you do so much more by truly standing by me in this… awkward time of awkward loyalties. Of course… perhaps you won't be calling me, 'your majesty' much anymore…"

His smile faltering at the implications of her statement, Warren didn't decide to respond to that – Midna's words held truth in them. This pregnancy could and maybe would ruin her reign as a loyal queen. Midna's own fragile smile weakened, and decided to turn the conversation toward it's original topic.

"His… his name is Link."

"What?"

"That's his name… Link; the one who… you know. He's the father."

Warren looked like he wanted to hear more, "Link…?"

"He has no last name, Warren," Midna asserted, feeling rather defensive, "He… he is a simple goat herder… and yet so much more."

"A… a goat herder?" The Twili smirked a little, almost as if it was a joke, "No mean to be rude, my Queen… but… I didn't take you for the type to… fall in love with someone who's occupation was simply herding goats."

Midna sighed, "I didn't either Warren… but a lot of things can happen in a year within the World of Light. Link… Link proved me wrong – proved me wrong on so many occasions, Warren. You have no idea how special he is."

"Special? I… Well… how long did you spend with him in that year?"

"All of it."

Warren leaned forward, his gaze falling toward the obsidian ground, "Something tells me he wasn't just a goat herder then."

At this, Midna smiled – her memories went straight to Link turning into a wolf and then slowly transitioning into a hero spattered with monster blood, ragged and snarling at anything else that dare get in his way. He was so timid at first… and then he turned into a man in front of her eyes.

"No… no that doesn't even begin to describe him. That's… that is just what he used to be – I don't think he is a goat herder anymore. He is what they call a true blooded hero… a hero of legend I think."

"You're confusing me a little, highness."

Midna sighed heavily, "He is the one who helped me return to the Twilight Realm with full honors, Warren. Don't you get it? He…. He did _everything _I asked for no matter what the _cost was_. He never… he never ever once thought of his own boundaries… he… he is a good man – a good man in a world full of nothing but cowardice and selfishness… I…"

The Queen gulped, "And I think I've tried to be like that but… compared to him I don't even come close."

Her advisor turned to her, complete sincerity in his voice, "It seems like you have some unresolved issues… something unrequited I think?"

The silence Warren received was hopefully all he needed.

"Well, we are eventually getting to the Light World… perhaps you will get the chance to talk to him."

Midna scoffed, "Oh, he won't want to talk to me… no… not after what I did to him."

"Your majesty…"

"Warren, you didn't see the look on his face when I shattered that mirror to tiny little pieces – I shattered more than just that mirror that day! If… if you knew what I said to him… if you knew what I said to him three months ago… I… Warren I can't talk to him. How could I after what… Oh Goddesses…"

Putting her hands on her face, Midna bent her head down toward the ground heavily. She tried to remain calm and collected but the memory ached like an old wound that would forever be in pain no matter what she did.

"Your highness," Warren said, gently grabbing her shoulder, "Are… are you going to cry-"

"Hell no," She instantly replied, shooting back up, "No. I'm… I'm not going to cry. I've already done enough of that."

Warren looked unimpressed, "I doubt he'll say that if we ever meet up with him."

The look that she put up on her face hopefully made Warren realize that she thought quite the opposite of her young advisor. The thought of ever seeing Link again made her soul want to run in two directions – toward or away from him.

"On a level, I badly want to see him – on the other I'm deathly afraid of him," Midna admitted, trying to prevent her lower lip from quivering, "I'm afraid of what he'll do."

"Why, do you think he would harm you?" her advisor questioned, looking a little more worried then he did previously.

"Oh by the Twilight, no… no he wouldn't harm me… but I wouldn't be surprised if he hates me. Hates me for what I promised him and ultimately failed at."

Warren looked thoughtful before he spoke, "Perhaps this is something you need to work out between the two of you if you ever meet again."

"Warren, you might be my political advisor and general protector – but by the gods, you won't become my relationship advisor as well. When the time comes… I'll… I'll handle it," Midna replied, somewhat biting but by no means mean. She didn't want to go spilling her feelings out into the open like a heavy drunkard.

"… you probably want to smoke now don't you?"

Warren chuckled, "You have no idea."

"You probably should start thinking about what you would like to say."

Both Midna and Warren looked up at the Sheikah, who was now standing somewhat relaxed next to a new portal that appeared without the two Twili's knowledge. The portal looked much like the one leading into the Dark World, but this one held less of an ominous feel to it – Midna could sense good radiating out of the strange void, but she suddenly felt a lot more anxious.

Sheik motioned for them to come closer, "You're probably going to have to once we get back to the World of Light."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Wonderful to be back again. Sorry chapter 8 took its sweet time, but with so much stuff happening in my life, I had to put this story on the back burner for a while. I apologize, but it was necessary. I'll let you guys read on. **

**Also special thanks to Soul of Hero's for some helpful creative flow tips. I got the inspiration for the dice game mentioned in this chapter because of that. **

**Also, some of the events in this chapter I used, GREAT liberty in using. Such as the situation with the dice game. I needed a way to bring up certain aspects of Link's life to his fellow resistance fighters, and some of you might think it's a tad childish or too easy to get out of. However, I thought my resolution was the perfect opportunity. It also helps open with what I plan for the next chapter. That's just my reasoning. **

**Anyway, as always, PLEASE read and review and tell me what you think! Or if you don't want to review just send a note over and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. **

**Thanks and happy reading! **

Chapter 8: Undaunted

As the increasingly darkening cloud expanded over Snow Peak Providence, a presence breathed deep within the frozen ground, eager to resume it's dark designs.

It clawed desperately toward the surface, sensing the opportunity it had to survive once again - the need to live on persisted no matter how many times a sword went through it, and the idea for revenge was just at the edges of its mind.

Finally it breached the surface, the being's shadowy edges resistant to the persistent cold of the mountains. It looked around with its red yes - no one in sight. Probably due to the heavy storm just over head of the creature's resting place. It felt disappointed - even angry - that nothing was there to inhabit, and the feeling of frustration grew within. It needed something to occupy soon if it's plans were to resume.

Ganondorf might have failed it...

But nothing would stop it's return.

Not even Farore's child.

Not even.

The creature roared its return to the heavens, and the world shivered.

* * *

"Well... aren't you going to step in, your majesty?" Sheik politely asked, gesturing with a gentle hand toward the portal. He inclined his head just so, as if ready to take her cloak at the front door of a party. Midna's momentary awe stopped at Sheik's gesture, and she looked at the portal warily as if it would move over and bite her. Cocking her brow in suspicion, she sent a mild glare the Sheikah's way.

"If this is any kind of trick," Midna warned with her royal voice she barely used, "You'll be sure to pay for it. And by pay for it, I mean being ripped to shreds with all the twilight tribe's power. And I warn you it's _very _painful."

Sheik's act of chivalry vanished as he returned to his normal posture, his red eye looking unimpressed by the Twili's threat, "I am a Sheikah, highness. I bare on me the Eye of Truth. Never shall I lie. As it stands, however, I highly suggest you walk in instead of stand there."

"I'm sure it... won't be anything life threatening," Warren assured, though the advisor didn't seem so convinced of it himself. He batted his eyes nervously - Midna felt the same as he did, but she certainly didn't want to show that out in the open. The portal did not look stable, and light poured out of it destroying the calming gleam of the Twilight Realm. _"Just like the light realm" _Midna thought, _"Nothing can hurt me there... it's just like the light realm." _

The Twili Queen's eyes locked onto the portal and she strode over to it as if ready to strike it down with her stare - she bore herself stiffly and then right at the portal's entrance, she shut her eyes entering the white oblivion. She swore she could have heard a faint gasp from Warren's lips before entering, but it was too late to think about turning back now. Either way, she knew it had to be done.

Strange breezes rushed in around her, past her, and even through her as she held her eyes closed. The light almost felt suffocating, enveloping her into some false sense of security that she knew was all but a lie. Horrible memories flashed through her mind - memories of pain and struggle... memories of sorrow and rain soaking her to her bones. Wet fur against her skin, and the lack of wind - the heavy crown upon her head which made her wish she never put it on. the idea of revenge was folly and she had paid for it... Link paid for it too and the only thing left for them was a hollow Princess locked away in her burned castle.

But the memory faded as soon as it hit her, and the feelings of defeat left to the increasing intensity of the light. Midna used her arms to shield her face away from glares and flashes and for the briefest moment, she wondered if she had made the right decision in stepping into the portal.

Suddenly, her body was sent hurtling forward into an awkward stop - almost as if she had been running and saw a cliff up ahead, barely teetering over the edge. The intense light completely vanished, and her eyes were able to bare the burden of sight once more. Lowering her arms, Midna looked to where this portal had taken her:

It was nothing the Queen had ever seen in her entire life - strange waterfalls fell from nowhere and off into oblivion, creating an ambient blue light which cascaded down on the platform she was now standing on. Truly, this felt more surreal than the Twilight Realm in some ways, considering there was nothing else in the... _calming _abyss other than this platform, and the strange blue falls. Midna looked down and discovered that she was standing on a dais shaped like the Triforce; smaller platforms surrounded the Triforce Symbol - each one was a different color, and they seemed important. Different symbols decorated the tops, some in which Midna had seen before in the Light World... in fact, she remembered seeing all of them in one place - The Desert Prison?

Yes... that was where she had seen them before - each symbol representing a sage of some sort; but these pedestals seemed... older, long forgotten from mortal minds and perhaps even the constant river that was time. The pedestals were worn and cracked - one of them was completely destroyed, save for a few crumbles of blue that remained. The only ones that seemed they were in fit condition was the gold one in front of her and the dais she stood on. Looking at the remnants made her feel uncomfortable, and though she didn't want to admit it, a little bit worried for her own safety.

Just as she was about to question whether or not she did something wrong going through the portal, Sheik landed gracefully with Warren in tow (Warren landing with the _upmost _care by stumbling and hands flailing about), the Sheikah looking calm as ever. The feeling of normality radiated off of him, and Midna was tempted to stick her nose up in the air to make sure Shiek knew that she was just fine. Why she felt defensive, she couldn't guess. She owed the Sheikah nothing... at least she hoped not.

"I hope you're landing was much better than mine... Highness," Warren said, a touch of embarrassment in his voice.

Midna allowed herself to smile a bit, "I think it was. I think it would have been _much _better if you landed on your face. But that's my opinion."

"Your sense of humor never ceases to amaze my Queen..."

"Wouldn't have any other way, Warren... now where are we?" The later question was mostly directed toward her Sheikah friend in a more threatening tone than what Midna knew was necessary, but the Twili had no room for being nice at the moment. Sheik remained impassive and emotionless despite the edge in her voice, and instead of some scathing remark, the Sheikah stayed forward with her.

"We are in the last bastions of the Sacred Realm, your highness. It used to be named the Chamber of the Sages - however, those sages are long gone from here. It is now simply a structure for protection to the unfortunate and no more."

Midna's eyes widened a little. "_The Sacred Realm?" _She thought, "_That's impossible... Warren and I would not have been able to come here... it is forbidden to Twili to step foot in that place..." _

Warren seemed to read her mind, "How... that can't be right, Sheik. Twili cannot enter the Sacred Realm. If we were truly there, then the Goddesses' servants would be sending us back... and probably not very nicely."

"Ah but you forget _young _friend," Sheik replied, "The Sacred Realm is no more. You saw evidence of that enough from the Twilight Realm. The Goddesses' servants cannot control it due to it's taint and the separation of the Triforce pieces. Therefore, you two should be fine. In any case, we're not staying here long. This is merely a jump point."

Midna pursed her lips and looked at her advisor in an unimpressed expression, "I'll have to admit that your friend knows a lot, Warren."

"Well, um... he's definitely well learned if that's what you mean..."

"Yes... yes I suppose."

Sheik suddenly moved to the center of the dais that Midna and Warren stood on, moving his hands in odd patterns and furrowing his brow in concentration. Midna watched him in an amused state, finding it slightly comical to see someone so serious making random shapes in the air that didn't look like they did anything. All in all, the Twili felt rather entertained, even if it was something not necessarily funny.

After a few minutes, the ancient platform glowed a golden light, almost the same intensity as the portal before it - Midna shielded her eyes against it, wondering whether or not to be more bothered by the fact she was blinded, or how portal travel was becoming tiresome.

"The way is open," Sheik stated, lowering his hands and shielding his own eyes against the light, " We'll be in the light world soon enough."

* * *

Hyrule field had always been something of a wonder for Link - the vast grasslands, the cliffs and chasms, and general beauty were enough to capture the eyes of any artist or person who was generally touched by such a thing. Link would agree that there couldn't be any place more beautiful than the land that Hyrule owned. But as he traveled its great expanse, he realized that it wasn't its beauty that caught his attention, but rather what it brought to him.

There was something special about it; a magic in the air that the Ordonian found invigorating and frightening at the same time. A sense of awe and inspiration perhaps? A feeling of connection as Epona galloped across the landscape? Whatever it was, the feeling had stayed with him as Midna and he moved across it. In fact it felt more prominent now as his allies rode behind him, following him on to whatever danger lied ahead. Link thought he liked this feeling, however unknown it was to him, and pressed on with more intent than he had before. It made the travel easier than he remembered.

But as the Hero knew, the day was only long enough for some thought, and the setting sun brought reminders of rest.

Link and his old resistance friends finally decided to stop traveling for the night, the group staying under an alcove in the northern reaches of Hyrule Field. They all traveled long and hard, and by the time everyone got off of their horses, they were glad to be able to stretch out their legs and try to get rid of the saddle sores that worked into their thighs. Link didn't feel too bad off, but Shad and Auru seemed to be a bit shaky - Auru for his age, and Shad for his hobby of reading and researching rather than traveling. Ashei seemed completely fine, considering she showed no outward signs of weariness.

The Hero patted Epona's snout gently and then let her go to feed somewhere close to the small camp they began to set up. His previous thoughts while riding were all but gone now, his body eager to go rest somewhere. Ashei was starting a fire, whilst Shad and Auru were setting up there sleep rolls for the night. Link never bothered to bring one, and never had one for that matter, preferring the ground. During his adventures he had grown used to soft tufts of grass, along with using Epona as a means of warmth. He also liked the idea of traveling light, and a bedroll just didn't sit well with him.

Link walked over to the fire slowly, certain he looked tired from the days travels; he was actually quite glad that he did not have the first round of watch. Shad and Ashei had volunteered for that, and even though Shad looked more tired than Link imagined himself, the scholar insisted anyway. He claimed that he liked to stay up to catch up on notes he had written down or even more research. By far, Shad's packs were the heaviest due to his many thick volumes of knowledge. The hero felt like it was useless baggage, but he was not a scholar, and certainly didn't care to be. Shad's definite joy in life was to find out things and record them for others to know - something Link was a little worried about when all this was over (he liked to keep his hero life a secret, and frankly it just felt better that way.)

Ashei had been set up for a while now, her mountaineering skills coming into view. Whatever sleeping roll she had, Link couldn't see. Her eyes were set in that familiar frame of seriousness and bluntness, ready for anything. The Hero was grateful that Ashei was a skilled scout, otherwise he wouldn't have felt comfortable sleeping with just Shad watching.

Making it to the fire and past it, Link found a nice patch of grass to settle himself in. Sighing as he laid himself down, he couldn't help but feel the tiring ride though his limbs now. As trail blazed as he was, nothing wore him out more than a long ride - and a long ride it had been at that. His back ached more than anything, and he wished a pair of small hands could get it for him. He suddenly decided against it, however, and just slumped down into a comfortable sleeping position while listening to Ashei and Shad rant about something that probably wasn't even important. Link wondered how Auru could get any sleep with the two around, but just settled on the fact that perhaps the old adventurer was just that: old. And with age came the ability to deal with things easier, or just in a better fashion. As it was, Link found the old man fast asleep already, yet still alert and resilient as ever.

By the time Link actually settled himself enough, Shad and Ashei's comments slowed and he found his consciousness slipping into the world of dreams. It felt odd this time, mostly because he was actually acutely aware of drifting off, and the feeling felt uncomfortable to the young Ordonian. He tried to pry open his eyes so he could try to reposition himself, but his body did not let him go. He felt himself plunge into the darkness...

_... And then found himself dying in the western desert. The sands scratching against his skin as the night air took root and harrowed deep into his being - a night that couldn't be colder. There were no wounds to be found, are any scratch of any kind... _

_ No... no he wasn't dying. _

_ But it felt like he was. _

_ She was gone and that cold wind felt more welcoming than anything in the world- because he felt something other than what had happened in that _damn _prison. The cold didn't make him feel so dead as those shattered bits of glass had. _

_ Zelda stood with him against the wind, avoiding him. He was glad for it; not because he didn't like her, but he just didn't want the company. If anything else, he wanted to be alone - perhaps alone forever if he could bear it. A part of him thought that he might be overacting or taking her leaving too harshly, but the fact remained: _

_ He _deeply _loved her. _

_ It wasn't the kind of love that he and Ilia had exchanged... it wasn't just a crush he had for the longest time - this love that he felt was much different than the things the adults in Ordon talked about. There was no fluttery feeling, no cloud nine - just a serene calm. A silent pet on the beast's snout. He never felt awkward around her or felt like he had to hide something from her... he _trusted _her. _

_ He realized he was lucky to have what he had had for that long - he was young and naive in some ways after all this was over... naive in personal affairs and who to trust. What he had grown to see in Midna was something delicate - something special. _

_ Now... it was gone. _

_ "Link...," Zelda hesitantly said, her voice hard to hear due to the wind, "Link I am sorry." _

_ He decided not to respond. Zelda had nothing to apologize for. Midna leaving forever was not her fault. It was circumstance, it was fate..._

_ ... It was destiny and those Goddesses that made her leave him. _

_ "Why are you apologizing for something you obviously had no control over?" Link asked, finally lowering himself down on his knees and covering his thinly clothed arms, "She left... she left because she had to, that's all." _

_ The wind gave a powerful gush before Zelda replied, "You cannot hide the fact that you are bitter about her leaving. It is obvious in your actions and demeanor." _

_ "She... she _promised _me... she promise me she'd stay..." he uttered, his voice sounding completely pathetic, but Link figured he had the right to be now. _

_ "Pardon?" Zelda asked. Link could hear her footfalls in the sand, coming closer to him. _

_ "She promised me... two weeks ago that she'd always be there. She wanted me... she wanted me to have my happy ending... she... she..." _

_ "...She loves you and always will Link... never doubt that. I think what Midna would want you to do is grin and bear it, as you always have." _

_ "Bearing it is harder than it looks..." _

_ "I know." _

... Link's eyes were finally able to spring up from his sudden dream - a vivid memory he'd rather had forgotten, but he certainly wasn't in control where dreams ruled. His eyes stayed wide for a moment, reveling in the fact that he was awake. He was afraid to move, unsure of what to do. But eventually, the quiet voices of Shad and Ashei reached his ears.

"Just play the damn game Shad. It'll pass the time, yeah?"

The mountaineer's voice was strangely mischievous, not to mention it had a hint of daring in it. Link's ears perked up a little bit. He decided against sitting up for the time being, and instead decided to eavesdrop.

"Ashei, I could hardly call this a _game_, if anything at all. More like a... cheap way to learn secrets."

Shad sounded overly embarrassed, possibly very flustered. Link guessed Ashei was trying a cheap trick to have the scholar keep his eyes open for the rest of his watch. Either way, from the way they were acting, the Ordonian guessed that he hadn't been asleep for too long. He could still hear the fire crackling loudly from where he lay.

Ashei's voice picked up again, more mischievous sounding then the last time, "Oh come on Shad. Just let loose a little bit. It's only me after all. And what could I do, yeah?"

The Scholar scoffed, sounding offended or disbelieving, "Ashei, knowing you, you could do a lot of things. Most of those things I know, for a fact, are dangerous and painful. I'm not going to play this game."

"Yes you are, and you're going to have what normal people call fun, yeah?"

"Ashei! For the Goddesses sake-"

"This isn't a duel, Shad. It's a _game_, yeah? What could I possibly do to you during a game?"

Link sat up slowly now, more than a little curious at Ashei's implications of whatever game she was putting Shad up to. The game sounded interesting, whatever it was, and it appeared to be a nice way to quickly cover up whatever emotions had ambushed him after the dream like memory. He pushed himself up on his feet, and walked toward the campfire.

The scholar looked up, and seemed more than happy to have Link come and save him from Ashe's taunts and jibes at his bravery. The Ordonian gave him an empathetic smile, and sat down next to him, "So... what's Ashei doing to bother you now, friend?"

"Link, I'm glad you decided to join us!" Ashei said in hushed excitement, "You didn't sleep for very long."

Link nodded in agreement, "I figured as much... how long was I asleep for?"

"About three hours I believe," Shad replied, adjusting his round glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I hope you feel rested."

"More or less... what were you guys talking about?" It was an easy lie, not that his friends had to know that.

At the inquiry, Ashei beamed, "We were about to play a game. Right, Shad?" Her look became threatening toward the scholar and Shad tilted slightly away from the mountaineer, his eyes filled with uneasiness.

"Oh... well, yes! Yes we were!"

The hero had to admit, he felt pretty sorry for the guy. It was quite embarrassing when a girl was harassing you. However, Link mentally took it back. If there was ever an expert in why women bossed people around, he was definitely not the expert in that field. Midna, Ilia, and Zelda were enough proof.

"What kind of game is it?" Link asked, getting off his mental ranting and sitting down next to Shad and Ashei. His curiosity was getting the better of him, and he had to admit that any kind of game to pass the time couldn't be so bad.

"Well... it's something of a truth or dare game," Shad replied, his expression ranging from complete panic to utter humiliation, "Ashei says that it's just a game to get to know your friends better, but I like my privacy."

Ashei scoffed, folding her arms in a huff "Oh come on, Shad! Why not have a little fun, yeah? It's just a game!"

Link's eyebrows rose a fraction, "What are the rules to this game, Ashei?"

"Rules are simple," a grin spread on the mountaineer's face, looking all too eager for the opportunity, "I have a dice right here. Six sides, three different colors: red, green, and blue." Ashei pulled out the aforementioned dice and indeed it had three different colors. They were all scribbled on, suggesting Ashei made the dice herself. Link could only guess as to when she came up with the game, but he perked up when the mountain warrior continued, "Each of the three colors represents a category, yeah? Green is dare; whenever you roll a green, the person to the right of you has to give you a challenge to complete. Blue means knowledge; whenever you roll a blue, someone to the left of you has to ask you a challenging question. Kind of like trivia. If you get the question wrong, you have to roll again. Red is reveal all; nobody likes rolling a red" Ashei's face scrunched up, her obvious distaste for the color evident in her eyes, "Red means the person to the right of you has to ask you a deep relationship question. Like really personal stuff, yeah? Course, it rarely happens - there's only one side of the dice that's colored red. So if you roll that, I'd say you're luck isn't so good, yeah?"

"That is an... interesting game, Ashei." Link couldn't hide his expression enough. It was a mixture between amused and closed off. This talk of blurting out secrets to one another was making him side with Shad on this one. There were some things too personal in which you _didn't _share with friends.

Ashei's grin grew expectant, "So how about it, yeah? It's just something to pass the time before Link can take the watch for us."

Looking at Shad, Link found himself hard pressed to accept such a dangerous invitation. The scholar's mouth was downturned in a nervous frown and was constantly taking off his glasses to clean them. The hero didn't need further evidence of what Shad wanted to do - he actually wanted to do the same. It was just a game after all and nobody would blame him if he wanted to back down from it.

It was... it was just a game after all.

Just a game.

"Come on, Link and Shad," Ashei said, looking disapointed, "You guys telling me you aren't man enough to play a little game?"

Link scowled into the fire...

_After pushing back the Twilight from Hyrule Castle Town, the city was once again a font of activity - people hustling to and fro and not a care in the world other than their destination. Numerous cats roamed the streets and dogs barked along the side of the walkways sitting with the unfortunate beggars. Bards sung, bakers set out their new loafs of bread, stands were filled with merchandise. and to make the town complete, Hyrule Castle stood proud, however damaged, against the noon day. It's spires struck the sky in a way that captivated the young hero, wondering if the shield that surrounded the castle would ever go away. His eyes returned to the town, and his thoughts turned away from that of evil magic._

_ "I've... I've never seen anything like it...," Link awed, his blue eyes wide with wonder and delight. He still couldn't believe how massive the town was compared to his little village of Ordon. Rusl was right about this... if only Colin and the other children could see it too... _

_ "_Quit gawking wolf," _Midna's ever petulant voice rang out, it's strange mystic chime ringing in his ears, "_We need to resupply after that... incident."

_Link rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know Midna. You'll have to forgive me if I can't remember the streets too well." _

_ "_Well, you were here before."

_Link scowled, "Of course Midna. Just because I was here once in a traumatized panic as a wolf _definitely _means I know where I'm going now. Oh... don't forget I had someone dying on my back, and anybody who saw us was completely _horrified _at the site of a monster complete with another monster running through Hyrule Castle Town's supposedly safe streets." _

"Would you keep your voice down!" Midna protested, "Nobody wants to see someone rant to thin air! I get it!"

_"Glad you do," Link huffed, folding his arms. Now that the annoying Imp had her life returned, he found it hard to believe that the poor creature suffering on his back used to be the same Midna that had enough bravado to threaten things three times her size. Link decided that he preferred her that way. He had thought that her previous huffs of breath would have been her last - thankfully Zelda managed to save her... even though he wasn't sure what exactly that cost was. _

_ He looked up again toward the towers of Hyrule Castle once more, the strange shield pressing around it like a great diamond. Whatever that shield was, it was protecting an empty castle - full of collapsed stone, dust, and burnt memories. Perhaps if Link had been able to ask, he would have asked the Princess what exactly was going on. Then again, maybe she hadn't known at all. _

_ "_Hey! _Wonder _boy! Come on it's time to -"

"_Going somewhere, lad?" _

_ It took Link a moment to realize that someone who wasn't a shadow was trying to talk to him. He turned to his right, and to his surprise, found the most oddly dressed person he had ever seen in this town to date. The man had a mischievous grin, his eyebrows cocked in a way that made Link want to take on whatever this man threw at him. A green puffy shirt and tight dark green pants covered him, many belts and random tinctures tied from wherever looked convenient adorned his body like a medicine man. A distinct pointed hood covered his head - the cowl almost reminded him of his own hat in ways, but there was still little resemblance. And to Link's greatest annoyance to date, the man made it clear that he was taller than him. _

_ Link coughed, trying to cover up any evidence that he was talking to Midna, "Uh... I um... yes, I was just... debating where with myself." _

_ "With yourself eh? That's what I do _all _the time good sir, all the time!" His voice was very loud, but in no ways horrible to listen to. His strange smile was only increasing, however, "Sometimes it's better to say what you think out loud don't you think?" _

_ "Well, yes, I suppose... anyway I really should be - " _

_ "That's _just _the stuff we're looking for here good sir! Just the stuff for my little establishment right over there." _

_ The tall man pointed toward a towering tent in a corner plaza close by. Link had wondered why he hadn't noticed something that out of place to notice it before. The tent was adorned with bright colors of paint, directed with zig zags and popping shapes. Many people were crowded around it, curious as to what was inside. Link noticed that a lot of young ladies were staring at the tall man and him expectantly. _

_ "Just the stuff... you're looking for?" Link questioned, furrowing his brow in confusion. _

_ The tall man nodded, "Yes, yes! Just the man I'm looking for... the perfect candidate..." _

_ "Um... for what?" _

_ Suddenly, the man looked flabbergasted - almost as if he was shot by an arrow - at Link's inquiring, "For what good sir? _For what?_" At this he stopped down to Link's eye level, a twinkling in his eye, "Why for only one thing good lad..." _

_ "And... what would that be-" _

_ "The _S.T.A.R. _game!" he exclaimed, jumping up with amazing vigor, "What of anything else other than the S.T.A.R game! Where you too can become a star!" _

_ The hero felt mildly shocked at the tall man's enthusiasm, "Sorry sir... um... I'm not exactly in a position to be playing games right now-" _

_ "On the contrary! Why _wouldn't _you have time?" _

_ "I... I have stuff to do-" _

_ "That stuff can't make you happy... look at how sad your face looks! You need something to lift you up, up, and out of that mood!" _

_ Link heard Midna giggle off to the side of him, "_Oh don't mind him," _she whispered sarcastically in his ear, "_The scowl is natural."

_"I dare you to say that again Midna," Link whispered back, aforementioned scowl deepening, "Really I do..." _

"_So whaddya say good sir? How about a round?" _

_ The hero looked back toward the tall man, trying to muster up a somewhat pleasant expression, "Sorry... I... I just don't have the time -" _

_ "What's the matter good sir? Not man enough to try?" _

_ The crowd around the tent burst into a tirade of laughter, men bending over and women modestly putting a hand to their mouths to stop their giggling. Whatever expression Link had conjured up to portray politeness was instantly removed and replaced by an aggravated wolf - for a moment Link thought he actually _growled. _The smile on increased on the other man's face, and the Ordonian wanted nothing more than to show this side show attraction what he could really do. _

_ "_Come on Link, there's nothing for us here -"

_Link grit his teeth in an eager grin, "Fine. I'll play you're star game. But you're going to regret it later." _

_ The tall man's face brightened, sending his face into a euphoria of fake enthusiasm, "Folks, we have a player!" _

_ "_Link... by what in Din's name are you _doing? _We have a mission here!" Midna's voice said, her tones making it obvious she was angry.

_ The hero snorted, "I'm going to show this _Milk Goat _how a _man _plays this stupid S.T.A.R. game, that's what." _

_ Whatever reply Midna would have given couldn't really compare to the exasperated sigh she let through the air as he stomped over to the vibrant tent. _

... Link let go of the memory quickly, a familiar scowl coming onto his features.

"You're saying I'm not man enough to play a simple dice game?" Link questioned Ashei, the sudden scowl being replaced by a confident smirk. Ashei seemed very pleased by Link's sudden interest to play. Shad looked horrified.

"Come on now Shad, there really isn't anything to lose," Link reasoned, his gaze shifting over to Shad expectantly."

The scholar frowned, "Other than our dignity?"

"Oh shut up, Shad and get closer so you can play," The mountaineer sneered all too eagerly. The Scholar gulped, and reluctantly stepped closer.

"You caused me to do this you know," Shad said to Link, grimacing at what was to come by the luck of the dice, "Women always playing the trump card, am I right?"

Link smiled, "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't... but I'll be cursed by the Goddesses themselves if I'm going to be afraid of a simple dice game."

* * *

"Well, Shad, I never thought I'd see the day where you would strip down to your underwear and gallop around the camp. I'm surprised Auru didn't wake up." Ashei said through fits of laughter and snorts, "I thought for sure he would after that third whoop, yeah?"

The scholar looked completely livid as he tightened his belt, "Well, just so you know Ashei, it wasn't _my _choice. It was all your idea - I should have known better than to take that dare..."

Link was hunched over with a hand covering his face in embarrassment, trying not to laugh at Shad's misfortune. Since the game started he had rolled six straight greens. _Six. _Ashei couldn't get enough. The hero thought the Mountaineer couldn't come up with anything worse than purposefully sticking your hand in an ant pile... but Ashei had enough tenacity to break boundaries not broken before. This last turn proved that.

So far, he found himself to be holding up well to the dice. Every time he had rolled he had gotten blue until just barely. His last turn had been a dare issued by Shad; It was to stick an twig up Auru's nose unawares.

He had to admit, it was more enjoyable than he'd thought it would be. Auru didn't even notice - the traveling probably worn him out more than Link thought.

Ashei had her own moments of utter humiliation; Link managed to dare to do the Ordon tree swing. In other words, you had to the climb the highest tree closest to you and hang upside-down from a branch, making the most ridiculous faces possible to anything that came your way. She put up quite the show - Link was still chuckling. Even Shad had enough gall to laugh at her. However, Ashei didn't put up well with that.

Now that Shad's turn was over, it was Link's turn to roll the dice once again. Whatever he rolled, It was Ashei's turn to request. He hoped it would roll another blue.

"Alright Mr. Hero," Ashei said, glaring at him playfully, "Let's see what I get to do to you next!"

"Good luck, old boy," Shad said grimacing and handing him the dice, "You'll need it with her as you know."

Link nodded, "Oh believe me... I know."

"Hurry up and roll the dice, stick boy." Ashei said, grinning.

The hero took the dice from Shad's hand and began to toss it around in his palm. The other two resistance fighters looked eagerly at his hand, waiting for the moment he would toss it on their makeshift table ( a stump standing in the middle of their circle). After deciding he had done enough jostling around, Link let the dice drop down onto the stump. It popped a few times, rolled on it's side, and finally stopped moving. Everyone looked down to see what Link had rolled.

To Link's dismay, the blaring color of red showed it's ugly face for his friends to see. Shad actually gasped and muttered some apology to Link for sending him bad luck. Ashei seemed too satisfied with the results.

He stared down at it as if the Goddesses were going to strike it down with lightning any second, but no such miracle came.

"Oh this is _not _your lucky night, Link... yeah?" Ashei stated, obviously pleased with the chanced roll. The twinkle in her eye already suggested what kind of question she had been saving for this occasion. It subtly reminded the Ordonian of that cheating tall man from the S.T.A.R. game - of course, Ashei wasn't that man... but that didn't mean she couldn't be cruel in some ways.

Link was liking the idea of mountains less and less.

"Let me see, let me see...," Ashei mused, as if she were pondering what kind of question to ask him. Link wasn't sure what kind of question she would ask, but it looked like she had been dying for him to get this roll... Shad too, "What should I ask you..."

Suddenly, a fake spark spread across her face in an epiphany, "Oh I know! Now... forgive me if this is a little brash, but I'm not known for my manners, yeah?"

"I... am so sorry old boy," Shad muttered.

Ashei's grin almost seemed feral, "Alright Link, here's my question - have _you _ever had sex?"

"_Ashei! _ How could you be so blunt?" Shad all but yelled.

The mountaineer continued to grin like a high peak's cat, "Oh shut up, Shad... yeah? I can be as blunt as I want to be in this game, and so can you. There aren't any rules to that. Now come on Link, answer the question!"

In all honesty, the Ordonian had _not _been expecting a question of that nature - now he was thinking of how foolish this game idea had been. To play a game where you might have to leak out your deepest secrets? Perhaps he had been a little bit too over his head... he quickly became nervous and his previous willingness to play this dice game dropped significantly. If he didn't answer soon enough, Shad and Ashei were going to make random assumptions. He wasn't willing to go through topics such as that for the rest of the trip.

And what if he answered too soon? Ashei would immediately call him out on it, probably making this awkward situation worse.

_"It's just a damn question," _Midna's voice said in his head, as if t were his moral guide, "_who says you have to specify? All she's asking is if you've done it before... you can leave them in the dark. Leave them wondering - just like I did to you on so many occasions. Who said you didn't learn anything from me, hm?" _

The voice made sense; Midna always spoke sense after all. Her logic was always worth following. Link always took too long to think about things anyway.

"Come on Link, answer the question! Have you, or have you not had sex, yeah?"

Shad still looked offended on Link's behalf, "Ashei, what kind of question is that to ask to a... a seventeen year old? People don't just go around wanting something like that... unlike you!"

"Shut up, Shad. I've asked the question and I'm not taking it back, yeah?"

With the mountaineer's exclimation, Link suddenly stood up and folding his arms. He set his face into a deep and contemplative glower. His eyes pierced into Ashei's, and the mountaineer quieted down without a fuss. The Ordonain's features soon lightened, and then his mouth curved up into a knowing smile. He hoped he looked amused as Ashei once did.

With the most calming voice he could speak with, he was sure that he was going to surprise them both.

"Yes."

With that, Link took the stunned silence as a motion for him to begin his watch.

_"Nobody should know...," _Link thought as he walked away, "_Nobody should know..."_

_

* * *

_

**_Once again! Please read and review! _**


	9. Chapter 9

_Greetings again! _

_So sorry I didn't upload this yesterday, but something kind of bad happened on Friday, and Saturday was my day to re cooperate from a rather depressing event that I won't get into. So, I posted it today in hopes that you guys would forgive me. HAH! _

_So sorry that I've kept you all waiting forever for this update. I'm getting ready to move in my apartment tomorrow. How exciting! I hope I'll get more chances to write this story, because - honestly, in my opinion - this is where it's going to pick up from here on out. And lets face it, writing people's emotions takes a while. XD _

_Anyway, I won't keep you waiting. Please read and review, and tell me what you think! It's always appreciated! _

_-Mudora- _

**Chapter 9:**

Unclear

The next morning, Link came to realize that telling a secret to Ashei was as irreversible and foolhardy as trying to make your horse jump the Kokoriko Gorge. Her curiosity was as wide and her pestering just as long, if not longer than the huge marring in Hyrule Field. The Ordonian was wishing for anything that would make her stop asking questions as they rode toward Zora's Domain, and frankly he even had a small hope that she would stop asking.

He only wished the Mountains would come sooner...

"Come _on _Link who is she, yeah? Come on you can tell Ashei!"

"No...," Link replied for what was probably the hundredth time. Though the mountaineer kept hearing it, it didn't seem to stop her more than _adventurous _effortsinto leaking more of the truth out of him. He was beginning to think that the word 'no' did not ( and would never) exist in Ashei's vocabulary.

"Link, come ooon! Is she stunning? She's not younger than you is she? Or do you like older women? Come on just tell me more, yeah?"

"No."

"There is _nothing _wrong with wanting to talk about it Hero Boy! Come on, tell me!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"It's not embarrassing is it?"

"No."

"Ah HA!" Ashei suddenly exclaimed, pointing a proud finger into the air as their horses continued to trod along the ever steepening trail, "I got you to tell me something! So it wasn't embarrassing... that's good to know, yeah? Come on! Who is she, Link... you have to tell me!" She bodily leaned closer to Epona and himself with a dubious look on her face, "She _must _be pretty yeah? Blonde hair, blue eyes? Thin, beautiful and stout chested?" A smile played at her lips, "Or maybe dark and mysterious like myself..."

"Ashei, you couldn't be dark and mysterious if you wanted to be...," Shad muttered to the left of Link. The Ordonian was grateful that he had not taken up on Ashei's antics into trying to get him to tell them more secrets in which he would prefer to be left alone. "You're loud, obnoxious, and brash... not to mention a heavy drinker."

Ashei looked over the Hero quickly and glowered at Shad, who tried to not look nervous - offending Ashei was like purposely making a re-dead come after you, "You stay out of this Shad. This is between me and my buddy Link here... yeah?"

"No, it isn't." Link easily protested, quickly looking at Ashei with a threatening glare that usually sent Midna into a fit of giggles. It also seemed to have the same effect on the Mountaineer, sending her into fits of unimpressed laughter.

She sent a conquering smile the hero's way, "It is so! You were the one unlucky enough to roll a red last night. You didn't even hide it! I demand to know more details! _Who is she?_"

Link groaned in frustration and his eyes furrowed in a scowl deep enough to fit a wolf's face. He hoped it showed, "Ashei, for the love of Farore, I am _not _going to tell you _anything_ about her. She isn't even here anymore!"

With his outburst, he suddenly spurred Epona forward, up to ride with Auru - more importantly to get away from Ashei's probing questions. He wasn't sure how long he could have taken it. When he looked up from his fuming, however, he found Auru looking at him with a concerned, fatherly expression. No suspicion or speculation, but just pure and simple concern. Link was grateful that the old adventurer did not seem condescending (he was sure Auru had heard every word that had passed last night) and for once, didn't feel like he had to ride off ahead alone. The old man was giving him a look as if asking him, "Are you alright?" but the Hero felt like he couldn't give him a proper answer.

"There are definitely times," Auru started to say, albeit cautiously, "When Ashei is a little overbearing."

"'A Little' is an understatement." Link replied low in his throat, resisting the urge to look behind him - he wanted to see if Ashei was going to follow him, but he doubted she would do so after his short display of anger.

Auru sighed, "I don't think you can really blame her, though. She's easily excitable... and none of us have seen you for an entire three months. "

"If it is concern, then I'm flattered... really. It doesn't mean she can press into my personal life..."

"Oh I'm definitely not giving her permission to go into that. That's your business," Auru offered, his expression never faltering from his fatherliness from before, "Ashei, as I am sure is the case with other people in general, shows her concern in varied ways. She shows it by pestering people... something I think Shad should have gotten a cue on long ago..."

Link raised his eyebrows high at this, "Oh really? Good thing she was lucky enough not to role a red last night... I'm assuming you were listening the entire time?"

"Most naturally. I might be old, but that is just a ruse. I was _wide _awake last night. How could I _not _be with all that clambering? Not to mention Ashe's only knowledge of quiet is talking to you over a snowstorm. The stick up my nose didn't help exactly either."

Link found himself slightly smirking at that, helping brighten his mood a bit. But it did not make him feel any less on edge. If Auru had heard everything, then he most likely knew all about what Ashei had been bothering him about, if he hadn't garnered the fact that morning from the Mountaineer's constant taunts and jibes. He sent a suspicious stare Auru's way, asking a silent question, wondering if the old adventurer would get it or not. Auru seemed to catch on, and a wry look slowly crept up his wrinkles.

"I know what you want to ask," He said, voicing Link's worry already, "And as an answer to your unspoken question, yes. I did hear." Auru then looked a tad reluctant to go on, but Link could see the determination in his eyes. "I'll be honest. I'm quite curious, but I know personal matters when I see them. And it seems to me like you are full of them, my boy."

The hero frowned, not exactly sure what to say. For some reason he felt bad about the old man not having anything to go off of. Auru was smarter, and not to mention wiser, then a lot of people he met up with. Zelda was definitely wise, smart, and not to mention, privy to his inner battles... but Link had a level of trust in Auru that he didn't seem to have on a certain level with other people. It was not easy to make Link feel comfortable around other people that he had not previously grown up with... but the old adventurer was one of those special cases. Ultimately, he felt bad that he hadn't gone to Auru sooner - for his age and experiences, he made Link feel like he could talk about anything with the old man. He bit his lower lip, wondering if he should even bring it up at all.

Once again, Midna's voice rang at the back of his mind.

_"You don't have to tell him everything," _she whispered, her impish grin planting itself firmly in the forefront of his mind, "_You can tell him bits and pieces. Knowing you, you'd feel wonderfully helped with that sense of slight aid from one of your friends... you always were covered in half truths - always for me, my little wolf." _

"Auru...," Link started quietly, making a mental note to where Ashei and Shad were behind them, "Have you... have you ever felt ... I don't know... abandoned?"

"Abandoned?" Auru reiterated, making it sound like the subject was entirely new - almost like the word tasted bad in his mouth, "Well... I suppose that depends. There's differences... but considering your current issue... I'm assuming you're wondering if I've ever felt... romantically abandoned?"

Link nodded slowly, now wondering if talking about it was really a great idea.

The old adventurer made a contemplative noise, digesting Link's question. No doubt mentally going through his long life. This made the hero feel a little more at ease - this meant that Auru was taking his inquiry seriously, and he hoped whatever answer he had to give him would let him see that it wasn't just him feeling lonely and lost. Not that Link was conceited enough to believe he was the only one to go through such pain... but he could not deny that his case felt a tad more complicated than most. He decided that involving a Princess of Twilight would always make things harder on one's self.

"Well," Auru began, two fingers rubbing his chin "I can say I have felt the effects of Love's bitter sting... I suppose it would be kind of hard not to at my age." The old adventurer sighed heavily "In response to your question, yes I've felt abandoned, but nobody is like anybody else and I was able to get over that small hurdle in my life. I've had many love interests Link - however, I am not saying what you might be feeling is the same as I have been through... may I ask why you feel this way?"

Link chewed on his lower lip, knowing his hesitance showed on his face. Once again, Midna's advice popped into his head.

The Hero let out a long breath, "I... well... she..." He wasn't exactly sure how to say it. Midna was complicated enough that thinking about her made even the beast inside him crack with loneliness, "She... promised me things."

"So there is a girl," Auru said, no humor or surprise in his voice. He took it as just a statement of fact. Link felt grateful.

"There... there _was" _Link corrected, "She... I know she really did love me. I can't deny that. She promised me things, and truly meant them. But... there came the day where I had to say good bye, only I thought it was just going to be for a short while."

Auru hummed over Link's explanation, "I take it, she lied to you?"

"No and yes," the Hero easily replied, "I can tell... I can tell she didn't want to say good bye forever... but she still lied. Maybe she thought I would take it better, but I don't think either way would have... I mean..."

"I take it... this was the reason for your three month absence?"

"More or less" Link agreed, a sudden interest to look at the ground rising in his gut.

"It must have been quite the emotional toll for you."

Link paused before answering, "Out of everything I had been through before then... even through all the injuries, bitter losses, and major successes... the one thing that made it worth it - the one thing - all but gone. I don't really know how to describe it" He still felt surprised, and unbelief swept through him like a storm cloud, "It was like... I was the only one that ever knew her, and she was a figment of my imagination. And after... after all that... nobody... I couldn't tell... I couldn't tell anybody."

"Tell what to anybody?" Auru questioned, raising a thick, white eyebrow sky high.

Link felt his face pale a little, "I... I won't say. I've talked too much about it anyway-"

"There is never talking too much about it, Link. You are young. You are strong. But with that strength comes stubbornness. Even though you've been through the things you've been through, Link, I still sense that tell tale sign of youth; the feeling that you're invincible. You might not believe it, but I can see it still radiates off you like magic radiates off that sword you have." Auru's face was a mixture of empathy and worry - with a little bit of anger mixed in... but the good kind of anger if it could be called such, "I wish you could have come out of your house sooner. People aren't meant to shut themselves behind doors and feel alone, my boy. That's what friends are for." At this, he huffed through his nose, a sure sign that Auru was disappointed, "I would highly suggest you talk to me about this a lot more. The only thing I can promise you is that I'm not going to blurt it out to the world like a certain Mountineer behind us. It's up to you though. I can't force personal things out of you."

Link nodded, a little bit of the pressure he had been feeling leaving his shoulders, "I... thanks Auru. That... means a lot to me."

"If anything is certain, Link," Auru said, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, "Being who you are, you will always have friends to rely on."

As the old adventurer turned his head back to the trail, the Hero couldn't help it; he felt better, so he smiled.

_That's how it's done my little wolf._

_

* * *

_

As Warren and Sheik came through the portal, the light fading behind her, Midna wondered why she had to come up here - out of all the land under the Light World's blue sky did she have to reappear here?

A breeze ran through the lost woods and into the old temple ruins, as if exemplifying the state of the alter she was staring at. The portal had taken the three to the ante chamber, a place where Midna felt entirely unworthy to be at any given point in time. For some reason or another, Midna always felt like this place was for Link, and Link alone. She wasn't certain if her wolf ever felt that way, but whatever the case, Midna suddenly felt like she was trespassing - not to mention, the current scene made her mood fall ever more to the negative.

The light fog that had once more blanketed this place when Link returned the Master Sword to its home was now gone. Sunlight filtered through the trees and the air seemed proud - proud that the sword that rested here had once again been taken by its owner. The pedestal was empty; that sight alone made Midna cringe. What could have happened in the short three months she was gone? What could have happened to make Link take up the Hero's mantle again?

"Are we done traveling by the portals now?" Warren asked Sheik irately, his voice not as level as it had been "Because I've about had it with landing on my face - oh my."

Midna guessed Warren was staring at the sky. She turned around, and found her advisor speechless as his faded eyes took on his new surroundings. She remembered when Link caught her staring at the Light World's scenery, wondering why she had such interest in mundane things like trees and clear rivers.

The answer was obvious to her; she had never seen it before.

Warren looked positively amazed. His eyes darted this way and that, examining and rubbing his eyes, his feet feeling the moss and his hands touching the horizontal breezes.

"Was it everything you imagined?" Midna questioned, her mouth twitching up slightly. Even through her sudden melancholy, she couldn't help but feel glad to be back in the world of light and life.

Warren continued to stare at the trees and sky, "I... I don't even think my imagination stretched this far..." he lifted up one of his dark arms to shield his eyes from the direct sunlight coming through the protection of the foliage " But... it's... beautiful and strange... I'm not sure what to think."

The Queen only smiled at him a little more before turning her attention back to the empty sword pedestal. If something was wrong with the world of light again, She wasn't just going to stand there and wonder - she needed to find out what happened since she had broken the mirror.

"Ah, good to be back...," Sheik said suddenly, stepping further into the clearing - despite his apparent joy in being back in the light world, his shall and lack of emotion in his eyes gave no indication that he was happy. Midna rolled her eyes at the man - she noticed that he looked nonchalantly at the old pedestal, but quickly moved on, "Come. We do not have time to waste here - besides I'm sure you're all in need of sustenance... you especially, your highness."

Midna was about to open her mouth in protest, but her stomach rumbled oddly. She had to give credit to Sheik , at least. She felt a tad woozy and food did not sound too bad after all.

"Well, good thing I know exactly where we can shove our hands into some food stores," Midna said all too brightly. Link's house was just minutes away. She wondered briefly if he would be there, but her common sense told her that he would not - if the sword was gone, so was he. No doubt off to where the trouble presented itself. If Link did happen to be there, she suspected that they couldn't do much in the way of sneaking - he would know someone was there regardless.

Sheik turned around to look at her, "Well if you know where the food is, then maybe you should lead the way."

Midna gave a slow smile and walked haughtily passed him, "It would be my pleasure." She was certain Sheik was staring daggers at her back, which made her happy.

Even though the circumstances of their arrival, Midna couldn't help but feel a little happy as she walked, the soft grass tickling the bottoms of her feet. The air smelled fresh and life was everywhere. She had been in the realm of nostalgia for so long, she had forgotten what the freedom of the Light World felt like. With the greenery around her, memories came flooding back of her year excursion - so many sights and sounds she had never seen or heard of before. The more she saw of it, the more jealous she bacame of it... and the more she realized why being sealed away from this place was such a harsh punishment for her tribe of Twili.

The Light World held _meaning. _It held _happenings. _It was everything the Twili craved and more.

Especially for Midna.

She led the group in silence out of the thicker part of Faron woods - the ruins becoming less evident as the trees lessened. Sheik kept a steady gaze ahead, whilst Warren's eyes wandered at all the variety the Light World had in the way of wild life. Midna giggled when her advisor became startled over a fluttering yellow butterfly, trying to explain to him that it was completely harmless. He didn't seem like he wanted to press the idea any further than he had to. Sheik made no effort to show he was interested in anything the two Twili were doing. The Twili Queen preferred him that way.

They easily passed the old Forest Temple without any incident, though, Warren was begging to go inside and take a peak. Midna told him to shut up because she was hungry, and Warren complied with a disappointed frown. If they ever had the time, Midna thought it wouldn't hurt for him to take a little bit of a peek. But she had to get something in her belly first. She could feel her stomach rolling with complaints. She decided to pick up their pace a little bit.

From there, it was a short walk, and after Ordona's spring, Link's house roof popped above the shorter trees - a welcoming and familiar sight to the queen. Yet, she could feel a slight nervousness as the group halted in front of the house's ladder.

"What a peculiar way to get inside a house...," Warren mused, his fingers rubbing his chin, his other hand on his hip, "It's very... natural looking..."

"We don't need to worry about that right now," Sheik said bluntly, a heavy sigh coming through his shall, "Right now, we need to be fed. Time to go inside before someone decides to walk through here. This place is too public."

Midna widened her eyes in minor surprise as she began to climb up the ladder. In her haste to see some sign of Link, she had forgotten his house was close to Ordon village. A village full of Light Worlders who didn't exactly have good memories of her people. Chances were that if she and Warren were spotted, torches and pitchforks would rise to the sky... or Rusl would at least come slashing down the trail.

_Rusl... _

Midna shook off the thought and decided to climb up the ladder faster than needed. She didn't particularly like the thought of someone chasing her down the road just yet. If anything, she needed to eat - and her stomach was more than eager to remind her.

"I suggest you follow her lead, Warren." She heard Sheik say when she got to the top, "We need to be hidden before anyone comes up the path."

Though, Sheik expressed his own worries, Midna couldn't help but stare down Link's door as if it was a bull ready to strike. She had not been here in what felt like ages... but nothing had changed on the outside... she wondered if anything was different on the inside.

She heard her advisor and the Sheikah come up behind her, and Sheik stepped next to her to knock on the door - or at least he was ready to before Midna decided just to open it. Link had never locked it on their adventures, and she suspected he didn't lock it before he headed out. The door easily flew inward, leaving Sheik's hand suspended in a knocking position - She smiled smugly to herself as she let herself in. Whatever the Sheikah's look was behind her, she was sure she would have been proud to show a little bit of anger on Mr. I-Don't-Show-Expression. She swore she heard Warren softly chuckle.

"I suppose I should have been expecting that," Sheik stated neutrally.

As the Twili Queen stepped inside the house, a rush of air came over her - a familiar scent of freshly cut hay and forest grass swept her up, and wouldn't put her down. As her eyes scanned the home, she realized that nothing much had changed. The same pictures were still displayed, the same woven rugs were on the floor, his tools were stacked neatly against the same wall, and his bed over in the corner was in it's same state of disarray. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here... the only thing that Midna found disappointing was that the fire wasn't going, and her wolf wasn't there preparing Ordon Goat stew. Everything was right - the scent, the scenes, the overall felling...

But he wasn't there.

_He had ran off and came here - the idiot just ran off, and he thought she wouldn't find him in his own house. The fool. _

_ But he was only a boy after all, and a farm boy at that - she guessed that he could only be pushed so far before he had to run somewhere to get away from it all. To get away from the twilight, away from his friends being taken by monsters, away from his Goddess given duty... _

_ Away from her, little impish Midna. She didn't think any less of him for it. She would have ran away from herself too. Who would want to pay attention to a bossy, arrogant, and demanding witch of the Twilight? No one, that's what - and here he was, on his bed with his shoes and hat off, wrapping himself in light blankets and staring at the auburn sky, no doubt wishing that all of this was a dream. _

_ Or a nightmare. Did people wish they were having nightmares? _

_ She stared out that same window as well, the sky aglow with the sun sinking into the dark. Off in the distance, the corrupted eastern part of Hyrule had a brighter glow then nature had - an out of place beauty in a world that didn't need any more changing to make it better. Midna longed to be back there, in that dome of Twilight - she felt at peace there and it would always be better than this stupid place. The humans should have realized this by now... why couldn't they accept that? _

_ "Comfy?" She said snootily to the mound on the bed. The mound twitched, and the boy pulled the blankets tighter around his form, "I hope you are, because we need to get going. You promised remember? "_

_ He said nothing back to her, his unspoken anger evident on how stiff he laid on his bed. He didn't even turn around to acknowledge her - he was dead set at looking out the window. _

_ Midna was not impressed, "_Look _little boy, you promised that you would help me - not to mention helping me would help your friends. Oh, and lets not forget that oh so wonderful duty of pushing back the twilight. I'm pretty sure the Goddesses-" _

_ "Shut up." Link snapped. He didn't even sound angry or upset - his voice was steady and low, something Midna hadn't been expecting, "I need to think." _

_ She contorted her mouth into a thin line, "Oh." She said, her eyes now becoming just as thin as her mouth "I see. Because Hyrule is going to wait for you, is it? Do you think your friends have time to sit and think about what's happening to them? Do _I _have time to sit and think? I believe you know what the answer is." _

_ "Oh, I know what the answer is." Link replied, slowly sitting up, letting his blankets fall a little bit. He finally turned his head toward her shadowy self, and it became _quite _apparent that he was not in a good mood. "The answer is I. Am. Tired. Yes, I need to rescue my friends, yes I have a promise I owe you - and by the way you don't have to keep reminding me every five minutes - and I know I'm the Goddess damned hero. It has been more than twenty four hours since I have last eaten something. It has been twenty four hours since I last slept. It has been twenty four _plus _hours since all of this... _Twilight _stuff has been happening to me, oh and let us not forget that chainmail is a _Goddess Damn Bitch _to get off by yourself. So yes Midna, I know what the answer is." _

_ Midna inadvertently looked over to her right where his dresser was, and a very heavy chainmail shirt was discarded and undone on the floor next to his bed - she had to admit, that probably would have taken quite a while to take off. _

_"Actually, no I still don't think you do... perhaps I should ask you a question then." _

_ He sighed, emphasizing his complete lack of interest in the conversation, "By all means, ask away, _Midna._" _

_ She folded her arms across her small torso and focused her gaze on him as if he was unworthy to look upon her. His scowl deepened, but she went on anyway, "We don't have a lot of time to recuperate. Not with all that needs to be done. We need to set out by this time tomorrow. Does that sound fair to you?" _

_ He honestly looked surprised at her inquiry; she knew that he would be. She had never really asked his opinion on anything since they had met. She had just pushed and pulled him to where she wanted to go and he never had a say in the matter. The chain he had kept on when he changed into a wolf was more than what he needed as a reminder of just what he owed her... but Midna knew she couldn't have a servant keel over and die while in the middle of an errand. If he had to rest, then she couldn't stop him. _

"Stupid and weak humans... why did I think I could get this done with one, I'll never know."

_Link glared at her suspiciously, no doubt wondering if her question was actually valid, given the circumstances, but she could tell that something in him gave into her will - something obviously sounded fair to him, "That's... fine" He got up roughly and headed over to the fireplace where an empty pot hung over where an open flame should be, "That gives me a little bit of time for a few things... like checking up on Rusl and his poor wife... make sure Fado hasn't let the goats loose again..." _

_ He mumbled his thoughts into the open, ignoring the fact that she was floating right there behind him. Midna couldn't decide if he was trying to ignore her, or perhaps he was trying to gain some semblance of normal life again - whatever the case, Midna knew all too well that whatever had counted as normal for him would be long gone and never to return the way he had founded it. _

_ Perhaps, deep inside, he knew this to be true. _

_ "Can you eat while in that form?" Link suddenly asked her, making her jump a little. _

_ "What?"_

_ He rolled his eyes as he got a rather large piece of meat from a cold box, "I said, can you eat while in that form? I don't want you complaining on me while I'm doing _you _favors." _

_ Midna smiled from ear to ear, "I can probably eat more than you. You need help?" _

... Did he need help?

He was gone... he was gone and he was out there doing something - whatever it could be, Midna could only guess and wonder at. Was he alone or with others? Was he still in Hyrule or away? A short or long journey? If that or this, how long to get to him? When to get to him... what to tell him...?

Suddenly, a loaf of bread and cheese was shoved into her face. Her head shot back to the hand's owners, and was disapointed to find Sheik there, looking dull as ever.

"Eat this before you go dry heaving on his floor hm? You were beginning to look a bit pale. Sit down."

Midna barely registered that he was giving her an order - _an order - _to sit down. She couldn't deny that the sheikah was right, however, and decided it would be a good idea to place herself on Link's unmade bed. The mattress was softer then she remembered and the blankets itchy, but they were still _his _and his smell was strong here. She took a good bite out of the bread and a delicate take of the cheese, smiling as she ate - oh how she had missed light world food! So much texture and subtle zings of sharpness with spices and herbs. So much better than what she had been eating just a day before.

She made quick work of the light meal, and looked around to see if there was more. The bread and cheese helped her hunger, but eating only made her realize how empty her stomach had been. She got up hesitantly and peered over to where Link's pot was.

"_I wouldn't mind a nice batch of Goat Meat Stew... with that nice herbal taste... and that thick broth... maybe I can remember how to make it." _Midna thought, her eyes scanning over the cupboards and small counter in the wall, hoping she remembered what everything looked like. Warren gave her a questioning look, but she picked herself up off the bed and took the time to look through all of Link's small kitchen (if it could be called that.)

"Midna, your highness... what might you be-" Warren started, but Midna cut him off.

"I need something more filling then bread and cheese, and I intend to make it," she said confidently, her eyes scanning for the ingredients that she knew was in the stew. She could see Warren's perplexed stare in the corner of her vision, and she laughed a little, "What... you think that I lack the finesse in order to cook? This is easy."

"It's not as easy as it looks," Sheik's calm voice rang out, and turning to face him, Midna saw a bemused look in his eye, "If I've heard anything, you couldn't cook worth anything less than a green rupee, if there is such a thing, hm?"

She tried to send a most livid glare as possible "Is that supposed to be a challenge?"

"Not at all." Sheik easily countered, "I'm just saying everyone here should take part in preparing the meal. It is a custom that those who wish to eat, must help prepare it. Plus it will go faster. I don't think you have the time to wait, if I make myself clear your majesty."

Midna paused in gathering a green herb from one of the cupboards, gritting her teeth to bite back any comment. The Sheikah did speak some sense, and she didn't think she had the patience in preparing the meal herself...

What was it that Link had said sometimes? "_It's not bad to ask for help - even for the small things." _ Or something close to that at any rate.

"...You have a point," She finally admitted. "I'm making Ordon Goat Stew... have any idea what this is?" Lifting up the herb she got from the cupboard, she practically shoved it into Sheik's face to smell. Sheik calmly took the herb from her and gave it a sniff.

"Smells like mint... if you want your stew to be minty, I suggest you let me handle the herbs department."

Warren smiled sheepishly, "I'm sure it would have been an interesting combination your majesty..."

"Oh shush, Warren." Midna pouted, "It's harder to tell these herbs apart then trying to tell the difference between black and Navy Blue."

"There is quite the difference, I hear." Sheik said quietly.

Midna just snorted.

* * *

Ilia had always known that Link was meant for better things in the world - after coming back from the things he had done over the past year, she was sure that reverting to the lowly life of a goat herder was easier said than done for the young man. And in his case he didn't "go back" to anything at all, other than laze around his house all day, never to come outside or accept visitors for more than just a few minutes, because everyone in the village could tell he had been on edge about something. Whatever that "something" was, no one, not even Ilia, could even fathom of figuring out. The only clues anyone had to go off of was Link's subtle facial expressions and glazed over glances, like he had died somewhere and only half of him came back to Ordon.

It was this that bothered Ilia the most, since Link's return - what had happened to the boy that she had known since her kidnapping and eventual rescue? What had happened in that pivotal year of war? Rusl was able to give her somewhat of an explanation... something that probably had added onto his brooding in the dark.

He had said that war changes men and women. It takes them and molds them with scars on the outside and inside. And in both cases, none go away without time to heal. What Rusl had said scared her... scared her almost as much as when she was shot at the spring and taken away by barbarous bokoblins. Even her own father said she acted differently now - and she guessed she had her own taste of the war... everyone was affected by it one way or another... the children, the parents... the entire village.

And Link; the one thing she thought was incorruptible, became a hollowed out version of her childhood friend.

And so she hated the war, hated it when Link left for no reason just a day ago, and hated that he never talked anymore, or played with the children, or went fishing with Colin, or came to find her giving Epona a bath, never yelled at Fado to get the goats back in, but most of all... she hated that he never _looked _at her anymore.

She had wanted to talk about it, but the bastard up and left with two Hylian knights on some official business from the crown - Princess Zelda, soon to be raised as Queen of all the lands of Hyrule.

And just so she could get back at him, Ilia went into his house (because it was his fault that he never locked it) and grabbed the letter that he had left on the counter with the royal seal.

It hadn't told her much - or it didn't tell her much in way of Link's whereabouts. Something that just made her want to wring Link's neck some more... or at least yell at him and force him to answer her many questions on his strange behavior. The situation was agitating enough that she could break her mother's old stone dishes just by washing them. _Stubborn men all around me, and the only thing you can do to keep their attention is smacking them upside the head, _she had thought.

Which was why Ilia was so thoroughly confused when she saw smoke rising from Link's home on the edge of town.

She stood there, in the dirt road, a basket full of fresh apples to help Colin make a nice apple pie for his mother, and her mouth wide open like a Hylian Bass - so surprised that Link would already be back from what he had been doing. It had only been a two days, at least, since he had left hadn't it?

Ilia's face suddenly darkened.

The apple pie would have to wait -

"Ilia?" Came a familiar voice from up the path, complete with the sound of quick footsteps. Colin came bounding up from his home, looking at the basket of apples with a certain excitement only reserved for little boys, "What are you doing standing out here in the road? You don't want to stand here while Fado is on watch..."

The mayor's daughter snapped her vision off the smoke and looked down at Colin, "Oh! Colin... I... sorry... just... there is smoke rising from Link's house." She pointed up to the sky, "See?"

Colin followed her finger, and his eyes widened, "Link is home already?" His face gave a downcast expression, "Wonder if he's willing to come outside... maybe he'd be willing to help cut the apples for the pie?"

"Oh he's going to help make a pie alright," Ilia said scowling. Colin looked up at her worriedly. "I'm going to see what's going on..."

"Wait!" Colin said, following Ilia up the path to Link's house. "I'm coming too!"

Ilia marched on up the path with the basket of apples hanging on her arm, and Colin right at her heels. By the time they reached Link's home, her walk felt more like a stomping charge, her feet relating her frustration towards the ever reclusive Goat Herder. After she started kicking up dust with her feet, Colin didn't follow so closely anymore.

"Ilia...," Colin said hesitantly, "Is that hurting your feet? You're not wearing any shoes..."

She stopped, turning around to face Colin, "No it doesn't hurt... now come on. I'm going to drag that boy by the ears..."

The pair of Ordonians reached the small grove, the smoke still coming out of the back. Whatever Link was doing, he was probably cooking something - and from the smell of it, a nice Ordon Goat Stew. One of Link's favorites.

"Link has got to be in there," Ilia said, more to herself then the eight year old behind her. In truth she was really hoping just to see his face to make sure he was alright - then after that she would still pull his ears all the way to Colin's house so they could make apple pie together like the old days.

"_The old days... by the spirits I'm sounding like Rusl." _

Skillfully, Ilia held on to the basket of apples as she climbed Link's ladder, mumbling how annoying this particular feature was on any home, but she more or less made it up on the small balcony without any incident. Colin came rushing up, his big eyes intent on the door. He was waiting for Ilia to open it, something that she quickly obliged.

Once the door swung open, however, she was not greeted by an annoyingly silent stare that questioned her entry - instead there was a definite feminine yell that did not sound remotely human, let alone pleased to find Colin and herself standing there.

"Dear _Goddesses _Link! Why the HELL do you not have locks on your doors!"

Ilia remembered dropping her basket before quickly falling to the floor. The last thing she heard was Colin's frightened cry.

_Monsters! Monsters! _


	10. Chapter 10

Wow guys... it's been too long, but finally chapter 10 is done! It's done it's done it's done! This shouldn't have been a hard chapter to write, but it was... mostly because here is where the plot is starting to split a lot. But I've got it all figured out, and we won't have to worry about how and if I ever get that off the ground. Heh.

I'm sorry if some of the events here seem quick, but they just needed to be done WITHOUT you guys guessing right off the bat what happened. It might work, it might not, but I hope the chapter is entertaining non-the-less. You guys enjoy the read. Please review when you're done as well!

**Chapter 10:**

**Unintelligible**

As Ilia fell limply to the ground, Colin only stared back at the strangers with a minor look of shock, his features hiding his true fears broiling under his skin. The apples in Ilia's basket scattered and rolled on the floor, the idea of making a simple pie disappearing as the woman with blue and black skin slid slender fingers around the fruit to pick it up. She scrutinized it, and a small smile played at the corners of her mouth. For the life of him, Colin couldn't tell if it was sinister or trusting. Any sign that she had been startled before was completely gone.

"Ordonian apples..." the woman said in an odd echoing voice, her strange gold and red eyes scanning the fruit "Just as I remembered... but does it taste..."

She took a gentle bite, the crunch resounding in the once empty house. Her teeth continued chewing it down and finally swallowed with a big gulp. She sighed contently, "Just as I remembered... some things never get old..."

In the time that Colin had run into these intruders (which was probably two or three minutes at best), he couldn't tell if they were trying to be hostile. In fact, he wondered if any of them even noticed him. He hadn't planned on Ilia fainting like that, and he wasn't armed with anything... Link's house was undoubtedly lacking in any form of proper weaponry now that he was gone. There was nothing left now but to retreat. Run away and tell someone who could handle the situation better. Colin took a hesitant step back, turning around on his heel only to run into a red iris staring at him, from a man hidden by wrappings and blonde hair. He gasped, almost falling backward but his father's training kicked in and he remained on his feet. The stranger's red eyed gaze did not falter on him.

"We can't let you do that, I'm afraid." He said calmly, his voice hardly threatening but quiet and untrusting. It made Colin's stomach flip flop and hope for other means of escape.

But there was none. None that he could reach in time. For the first time in months, Colin was scared for his life again... and not just his.

The red eyed man continued to stare him down, "It's alright, lad. We're not here to hurt you, hm? We just can't have you running around telling who is in Link's house."

Colin's voice hung in his throat, trying to find the words that he would say to such people who broke into grieving people's houses. But he stuttered, his mind blank.

"Oh for the love of the three Goddesses, Sheik... you're scaring the poor boy." The woman called out, clearly unimpressed with the red eyed man and his ways with children -or lack thereof ," But what Sheik says is right. We can't let you leave now that you've seen us. You can blame Link's lack of ability to relock doors... you can credit him for opening them, though."

The young Ordonian swallowed, gulping down his lack of speech in the process, "W-who are you and... and what are you doing h-here? This... This is Link's house not yours!" He clumped his fists together at his sides, his gentle eyes becoming a little fiercer than before. He could feel the old fire burning, just like the time he had pushed Beth, the shopkeeper's daughter, out of the way of King Bulblin. He had to do something.

"Listen." The woman snapped, "Before you act, boy. We're not here to harm anyone. In fact, we're cooking, so how about you sit yourself down and behave yourself and maybe you can have some Ordon Goat stew."

Colin felt his anger dissolve into surprise, and immediately to suspicion, "Why are you in Link's house? You're robbing his things. Even if he isn't here, it doesn't make this house your home! It's Link's home and it always will be."

Something stirred on the blue and black lady's face. A slight twist of the mouth and a twinge in her cheek. Something so subtle, Colin almost didn't catch it. Her eyes downcast themselves to the floor, possibly looking at her feet - the young Ordonian had seen it once before... in his mother's eyes when his father had to go somewhere for a while. But the emotion was brief, and whatever it had been, the woman covered it up quickly. Her hard face returned, a jokingly playful look that made her serene but wicked.

"I don't doubt that," she replied, walking through the small space toward him, "In fact, I never have doubted it for a while now. I actually know Link quite well, little one."

As she walked toward him, Colin just realized how _tall _she was. She was well past Link's height... well past his father's, possibly even taller than Renaldo. Her movements where graceful, and he hardly heard her bare feet slapping against the floor. Her clothes were strange, her eyes were strange... everything about her was other worldly - glowing symbols and strange patterns on her limbs that reminded Colin of the days he was kidnapped and taken to a place where only ghosts danced or turned into monsters. He became frightened again, but only for a moment. He had to be strong.

"Oh, really?" Colin said, trying to sound authoritative like Talo or Beth, "I'd sure like to know how he came to know some people like you..."

Something about Colin's comment brought a wry smile to the Lady's face, eventually making her giggle, "Oh, dear boy... how we met is certainly a long story, one in which I'm sure would bore you to death. But to make it short, I met Link during the war. He helped me with quite the favor. That's how I know him." She made an annoyed stare at him, "So if you don't mind, I'm entitled to his home by at least some semblance of minor friendship."

"He's... friends? With you?" Colin questioned, not believing her in the slightest.

"Hard to believe... isn't it?"

A quiet cough was heard in the corner, bringing Colin and the strange women back to what was before. Another man was in the room - a man that Colin hardly noticed before given the appearance of two strangers in Link's house. Granted, this other man looked slightly less threatening then the other two uninvited guests.

"As much as I would hate to barge into this conversation, Midna...," he said, his voice slightly echoing like that of the lady's, " But, we have an incapacitated woman on the floor."

With an exasperated sigh, the apparently named Midna threw her hands in the air, "By light and shadow, only in the light world for less than a day and she still messes everything up. Off she goes having to faint at the slightest... slightest of inconsistencies..."

She continued to ramble on into incoherent sentences as she stomped back over to the fire, where Colin finally noticed that a pot was undoubtedly holding a batch of boiling Ordon Goat stew. The lady certainly hadn't been lying...

"Oh hurry up and put her down on Link's bed or something... and pick up the apples! We can't have them lying useless on the floor." Midna yelped. Before going back to the pot, however, she turned around quickly toward Colin, pointing a threatening finger:

"If you even think about running and telling anyone, I'm going to be very upset. You've already got yourself stuck in this mess now, and I suppose I _do _have to tell you some semblance of something. So plan to stay a while."

"But I-"

"No 'buts'!" she retorted, "You and that... _girl _are staying here until we make sure you don't tell our whereabouts to _anyone. _You understand me?"

As the other two men gently picked up Ilia to put her in a place a little more comfortable than the floor, Colin couldn't keep thoughts of just darting out the door away from his mind... but that threatening finger was hard to ignore, and he couldn't just leave Ilia unconscious, only to wake and fend for herself to these strangers. He set his face again into a serious expression.

"You better not be lying... and you better explain who you really are."

Midna scoffed, "All in good time. Now how about a helping hand since you've provided extra mouths to feed."

Colin noticed that it wasn't a request, and the young Ordonian really wondered what he and Ilia had gotten themselves into.

* * *

Link's back stiffened and shivered horribly as the first winds of Snow Peak blew down his shirt. His chainmail did not help in this type of weather, and he was contemplating whether or not he should have brought a warm cloak in his pack. The thought was meaningless in the end, however, since here his party was at the base of the mountains ready to step into the blur of white in front of them. The Ordonian was very grateful that he didn't have to take Epona through this - not to mention any of the party's horses. He hoped they were nice and warm in Zora's Domain.

"I say..." Shad mumbled behind him, barely audible in the freezing wind, "This certainly isn't normal weather for Summer is it?"

The statement was blatant, if anything. Link's eyes could only see dark clouds and a white wall where the thin mountain path started. Zelda was definitely right in sending a group here to investigate, but his wolf like instincts that still lingered in the pit of his stomach told him that this was terribly wrong - and an even worse feeling crept up when the thought of going in that frozen hell crossed his senses.

Everything about this seemed ominous and unwelcoming... but he was on Princess Zelda's orders. Personal orders no less, and Link wanted to come back with confirmation, not even more doubt and panic. Hyrule was not in any condition for another struggle like the last.

"Probably why something is brewing now...," Link muttered ominously, his mouth twitching when a stray snowflake decided to rest on him. He brushed it off quickly, his ice cold fingers only making him shiver more.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Ashei said slowly, dubiously even, " I don't think a tunic and tight pants is going to cut it for that storm, yeah?"

Link gritted his teeth as he gave the white swell an annoyed face. Ashei had a point, and she was the more experienced mountaineer, not he. Turning to look at her, a gust of wind blew in their direction, sending loose snow up into the air and on them.

"I've been... through worse. " Link uttered, knowing full well the only reason he was able to survive Snow Peak last time was due to a nice and warm fur coat. Nothing like anything a man or woman could reproduce as a cloak or otherwise. "But, it would be a nice comfort to say the least... the wind makes it worse."

A strong hand slapped down on Link's shoulder, and Link turned his head to find Auru handing him an extra cloak, "Didn't think you would like to set out without that."

The Ordonian smiled, eagerly taking the bundle and wrapping it around himself. Immediately, the bitter chill lessened. Link's spirits brightened a little more now that the weather seemed passable. Which was more then what he could say for his friends. Ashei looked ready enough. She had done this plenty of times. Shad , on the other hand, seemed to be ready to shake out of his boots. The poor Hylian scholar was probably shivering on the inside. Auru looked rather worn already from the weather... no man as old as Auru would be able to hold out in this for long. Link only hoped it didn't take them too much time to find whatever they needed to find.

"Shouldn't we... uh," Shad stuttered, teeth chattering "Wait for this storm to blow over or..."

"That's the reason why we're here, Shad." Link said, taking a mental inventory of his weapons. Plenty for the road ahead, "Something in the air here is making everything in Snow Peak uneasy... it's a sign... not a good one, but at least we have one." He put an affirming hand on the Master Sword's hilt, the metal feeling strangely warm in his hand. It felt... unsteady, "And I think my feelings reaffirm what Zelda said to me."

Ashei chuckled, her laugh even being heard over the howling wind, "He's getting his determined face, yeah? I suggest we start moving our legs before they freeze in place."

"I agree with our mountaineer." Auru said gruffly, snow building up in his beard, "The faster we can move the better."

"Do we have any idea where we should go?" Shad asked uneasily, "Where do we even begin to look?"

The Ordonian glanced upwards; far past the raging clouds and white snow was the top of Snow Peak, biding for whoever decided to wander too far into the fog with what knows waiting on the other side, "We need to get to the top, of that I'm sure. I suggest we hug the mountain cliffs. Ashei, what do you think?"

"Better plan that what we have, yeah? The cliff face should give us something nice to hold onto. And a proper landmark."

"And hopefully," Auru said, bundling himself up some more, "Away from preying eyes of monsters. "

Link could hear Shad heavily gulp from behind him. Ashei immediately went to torment the poor man, teasing him for how much he was shaking. Was it out of fear or the cold? Not bothering to listen, Link took the first step towards the top of the mountain.

And what a first step it was.

Even though the group managed to stay together with the help of the steep and icy cliffs, the storm remained relentless in its assault upon the party. Link's vision was horribly minimal, and he guessed the rest were not fairing any better. The amount of snow that blocked their path only increased, covering their feet, ankles, even eventually up to their thighs. Their equipment became cumbersome, and whatever cloaks or thick clothing the group had on was beginning to have no effect at all to their warmth. The wind constantly howled down on them, seemingly eager to stop their progress up the mountain - no matter what the cost. It was after many hours of this that Link could hardly feel his face, if any of his smaller limbs. He wondered how the rest faired, Shad and Auru in particular.

He would occasionally turn his head back, making sure his three friends were with him. About two hours into the storm, Link recommended that Ashei take the rear, in case of the moment where Auru or Shad would wander off or collapse. What he saw now was a good sign; all three of his friends looked up at him, giving a signal that they were fine. They had to be lying through their teeth.

Monsters were another thing that Link kept an eye out for. He was worried about the possible pop up of the snow wolfos - feral and undoubtedly dangerous. His previous encounters with them were frustrating and demanding for such conditions. Of course, last time Link had the keen senses of a wolf to help him track the beasts. But now, his normal human eyes would have to do, as well as his ears to find anything running their way. Any mistake could spell death out in the blizzard.

As expected, the storm only increased in its ferocity as they continued to climb inter higher altitudes. The wind bit harder at Link's exposed flesh, and it was beginning to feel like Auru and Shad could take no more. They stumbled in the snow and took longer to get up then before. Ashei kept giving the Ordonian concerned glances and worried looks toward what the storm carried ahead.

But the storm held much more in its grasp then Link hoped for as an ice creeping howl whipped against the winds. Everyone froze in place as the sound quieted, the whistling of the gust replacing the sound of death.

Link did not waste a moment in drawing the Master Sword out, its metallic ring loud enough to break the element's cacophony. He knew exactly what awaited them if they ventured forward blindly. Ashei drew out her own thin blade, a ornately decorated sword from some other distant land - a gift from her father. It felt out of place when she held it, but to Ashei it didn't matter - it was sharp, and she could hear the howl as well as anyone.

"I don't like this... that was only one, but how many more, yeah?"

Shad got up from stumbling again, his face all but red from the battering of the storm. A sort of icy fog had collected on the rims of his glasses - his body was shivering as if he had seen death itself, "M-more? I don't think that would work in our favor much... as it is."

Auru made no comment, his warrior senses kicking in. He readied whatever weapon he carried at his side. Link could catch glimpses of a thin shaft.

"W-what... do you suppose it could be?" Shad stuttered, his teeth chattering.

The Ordonian paused for a moment, waiting for any more howls, "the Snow Wolfos... they know we're here, and they're coming quickly."

"I..." Ashei said un-easily, "I'm not sure if they know our position yet... what about you, Link? What's your take?"

By the Goddesses, he wished he had his wolf senses back. He would be able to make out the icy glitter that fell off the frozen bodies of the beasts. It was easy to spot them then... the pumping adrenalin, his claws breaking their fragile frames, Midna clutching at his fur... keeping her warm against the wind...

"Link! Oi! What is it, yeah?"

Snapping out of whatever day dream he had spurred, Link came crashing back to the storm and its horrendous white walls of wrath pounding around the entire party. He had to stay focused, "The wolfos... they've probably smelled us and are alerting others. We need to move faster if possible. Try to expect all potential angles of an ambush, if you can."

"H-how many could that be?" Shad said, trying to defrost his glasses with his heavy cloak, "How many of them? They can't all just attack one by one... if they have groups-"

"We don't have time to consider." Auru said seriously, still keeping his hands on whatever weapon he concealed, "We are on her majesty's errand - her orders. Press forward or fail."

Link saw the Mountaineer role her eyes, "Goodness sakes Auru, I think the real question here is whether or not we freeze to death. I'd like to come out of here without missing a finger or toe, yeah?"

"Or an Arm..." Shad muttered. Link doubted Ashei heard over the harsh wind.

"...We need to keep going." Link decided finally. Better to make a decision then to wait for nothing, "Auru is right. We need to get to the top as soon as possible."

"Well, what about the wolfos?" Ashei asked.

"You're a warrior just like me Ashei. Improvise. They'll come at us eventually, just be prepared for it. "

The mountaineer just gave him a steady nod, Auru also giving him one to state he was ready to go on. Shad didn't really have the energy for it - he couldn't blame him really... the poor scholar did not venture so much out of the way that often. A fact in which made Link wonder why Shad had not been too successful in figuring out his late father's work - but that was beside the point, and not to mention in the past. Keeping a mental note to check often on Shad's condition, he gave a motion for the group to follow him further up the mountain.

Snow Peak only grew more relentless, however. The wind was becoming so harsh, Link could barely walk through the horrible gusts of air - like an invisible wall. But somehow, someway, the group still pressed on with red faces, numb limbs, and a burning within them to reach the top of the peak and truly see what caused such a stir.

Despite the harshness of it all, Link drove forward, his hand still on the cliff face, his piercing blues eyes never faltering against the gusts and blows of the blizzard. He felt heroic again, against that storm - felt his blood rise and the back of his neck shiver like the beginning of a new fight. He remembered that feeling... that familiar ache in his finger tips and the burning on his right hand. How could he forget such a sensation when he had felt it so many times before? How could he ignore the burning desire to throw out justice from his chest?

How could he forget...

_He was going to die. _

_ Not as a man... perhaps not even as a beast. No. _

_ He was going to die because he was a nobody farm boy, from Ordon. Instead of coming to the enemy, the enemy came to him in his moment of greatest triumph. _

_ He had all the fused shards that Midna requested... the Children, Ilia, and Hyrule was safe from the Twilight again - he had fulfilled what he was sent out to do. _

_ But the moment his chest burned, he knew he should have been wiser... knew he shouldn't have thought he was done so soon. _

_ For there he was - King of the Twili, in front of him, and making him nothing more than a plaything to cast aside in a vicious temper. His chest burned for real this time as Zant picked him up with seemingly nothing and flung him against the wall of Lanayru's Shrine. His head hit the rocks harshly, and stars danced in front of his vision as he tried to remain focused, but Link had lost all the ground he had. _

_ "Foolish." The King said - a voice that only Link could describe as childish and eerily adult in an echo. He sounded like Midna, but didn't. There was something else that made his right hand burn worse, "Foolish, foolish, foolish..." _

_ He could hear the sound of footsteps walking closer, and he was completely defenseless... dazed and doubled over. He had sustained so much more then this... why now? Here? _

_ "Foolish, Midna. I can't believe you've sunk so low... hiring _humans._ A Hylian no less." He cackled and it made Link's ears ring like a Goron had pounded his head with its fists. "Though, I will admit that you made it farther than I would have liked..." _

_ Zant was getting closer, and all Link could do was lay there and feel the back of his head where blood was starting to wet the tips of his fingers, and it was coming fast. Before the young man could really think on that for a good few seconds, he felt his body leave the ground again, only this time, his back smashed into the ceiling and was relentlessly carried down by gravity, his chest hitting the ground hard, and the heavy equipment doing more harm than good for his back. The rear of his head was like a swarm of bees had all stung a certain point. He couldn't move now. The only thing that quivered was his shadow. _

_ Midna... he wasn't after him, he was after Midna. But why? She was hidden the entire time... _

_ "Come on out little Midna..." Zant cooed dangerously, "Stop hiding and show your new face to me." _

_ If Link had ever been physically aware of his shadow, now was certainly the case as his right hand threatened to numb his appendage with the outstanding burn. He could literally... literally feel the King of the Twili grabbing a hold of... something from the faint recesses... pulling it out like a fisherman to a very fully net. With that, he could feel his jaw lock and muscles tighten. Zant was doing something else, but Link didn't need to guess what was happening. He was changing again, morphing into the divine beast as he could sense the light vanishing. The Ordonian opened his eyes, only getting them to view the world in a thin slit of vision, and already the black fragments of shadow were beginning to rise up into the air and vanish into unseen voids. Link could feel his teeth reshaping. _

_ Whatever expression Zant held on his face remained hidden behind the demonic helmet, but the Youth could muster up an idea. Even as the spring water stirred behind the tall villain, Link still thought he was smiling under all that metal. Lanayru, the great serpent spirit, rose up in a splash of light and water, a ferocious look in its eye - the pulsating orb of light held safely in its mouth. Link squinted at the sudden burst, feeling the pain of the change go away and waiting for Zant to burn to a crisp or whatever happened to Twili not within Twilight. _

_ Despite Lanayru's efforts, Zant continued to stand, unhindered and ever relentless, right where he was. In fact, he treated the light like a minor hindrance. If the great spirit's face held surprise, he didn't show it. Instead, the serpent sprung into attack. _

_ But Zant merely twisted his sleeve that wasn't pulling at his shadow, and a sudden force - another burn in Link's right hand - sent a crashing wave into Lanayru, the poor spirit rolling into its pool once more, his light going out as simply as it had come. The darkness was once more upon the hero, the change into the wolf now unhindered... Zant pulled at his shadow frantically now, finally revealing a tiny, impish arm. It was all too easy to recognize the faint blue glow of Midna's eerie tattoos. As Midna was slowly revealed, Link's form continued to change, compress, and enlarge - grunting, panting, howling as the crunching of bone and tissue tore at him like the day he had first turned into the blue eyed beast. He was the wolf again in a matter of moments, and Midna was out in the open, Zant in front of them. _

He _wasn't the only one that was going to die..._

_ They both were. _

_ "I have you now... Midna. Your pet can't protect you now." _

_ He couldn't really remember what transpired after that... but the feeling of darkness crept over him like slowly being submerged underwater - he felt cold starting at his head, then heading down to his paws. It made him feel sick, made him feel weak and inferior. But something else grew within... something feral... something deep and carnal - an untamable force that threatened to consume him if nothing was to be done... _

" - Din's _Fire _Link get up!"

Ashei's yell caused Link's eyes to snap open, his senses burning but the biting cold of Snow Peak was still there. His right hand felt like he had stuck it in a fire, and it was still willingly sitting.

The mountaineer wasn't the only one around him; Shad and Auru both had concerned faces, ranging from perplexed to worrisome.

"Well, at least his eyes are open, "Shad said, "I'm surprised he didn't die when he decided to take a nap."

"Wha-?" Link said in reply, groggily and stiff, "What happened?"

Auru offered him a sturdy hand up, the hero taking it graciously. He was quickly hoisted onto his feet, Shad and Ashei dusting off whatever snow had fallen on him. Still feeling dazed, he took in his surroundings.

He wasn't expecting what he saw.

"Okay..." he said, "What did I do?"

Ashei walked up to him, "After our little wolfos conversation? You remember that, yeah?"

"Of course... I just said it... a few... minutes ago, right?" The mountaineer shook her head in response, and folded her arms.

"After that? We started walking again, but you took off. Like a chain was on your neck, or something... I could've kept up with you, but Auru and Shad would have lagged behind... but... you were charging up there like you were a wolfos, yeah?"

Link stared at her incredulously, wondering if she was lying... but giving Auru and Shad a quick glance at their expressions, she had to be telling the truth.

"We found you quite a bit later, obviously." Auru said, gruffly, "Laying there in the snow, and as luck would have it, you passed out right where we needed to be."

Auru's hands gestured to the surrounding vista, the sight of it quite familiar to the young hero; the horrible and dark storm clouds were gone. The walls of white snow replaced with clear skies and a marvelous view of the mountains and even Hyrule beyond. Snow Peak had turned into a winter wonderland - the twilight sun framed everything in a golden light. The mountain was back to normal.

"How much later?" Link questioned.

Shad licked his lips, "Well... I'd say it took an hour or two to find you. A short while after you left, the storm died down a little bit - made it easier for us to climb." The scholar seemed delighted by the fact, "And... well, here we found you, unconscious by this dead tree."

"Dead tree...?" Link questioned out loud. He slowly turned his body, going a little ridged.

The old frozen tree where he had first met the darling Yeti couple hardly resembled a tree at all, anymore. Instead of the enchanting twinkling of frozen leaves in the sunlight, a black husk of a trunk and a few branches remained. The snow had melted at its base, and whatever plant life had resided underneath the carpet of white was as deadened as the tree. A literal void on the top of Snow Peak. Link could only stare at it in confusion.

"The storm... is gone..." he said, still groggy and a bit dazed. He felt like he had been bashed against the walls of Lanayru's shrine again. "So... was it just nothing?"

"The air..." Auru mused, breathing in a good scent, "The air is fouled by something. It's stale..."

The old man's fingers came up to his frozen beard, still incrusted with flecks of snow. It made him look older. He stroked his short facial hair, his eyes growing curious and then doubtful, but a spark of worry was still there, "Did you see anything when you got up here?"

_You didn't see anything. _

"I didn't see anything..." Link replied, "I don't even think... I don't even think I remember passing out here."

_Good. _

"That's a frightening thought. And here I was thinking you could climb a mountain better than I could, yeah?" Ashei said, a little bit too smugly. She sauntered over to Link and gave him a light scuff to his shoulder, "I'm glad I get to keep my pride."

"Either way," the old adventurer interrupted, giving Ashei a scolding glare, "There was something still here... Link can you not sense it?"

Even just standing there, the hero hardly needed to try and feel that there was something amiss. His hand still burned with a ferocity he wasn't used to. He would have to check it later... but that was just something minor. Auru was right in saying there was something wrong with the air - Zelda's suspicions had been right more or less.

"There isn't anything here, but the dead tree..." Shad observed. He unsteadily moved closer to it, adjusting his glasses for a better look, "It wasn't burned... burning leaves scorching and scarring. The tree just... died. Unless it was dead before we got here."

"No." Link said instantly, "That tree was alive. I've seen it before."

" From your last trip up here? That wasn't too long ago... Either way," Ashei said sighing through her nose, "There's something going on, but whatever it was, it's gone. We should probably start heading back down unless there's something we can actually show our Queen to be. I think I'm ready for a nice cup of mead or something warmer then this mountain, yeah?"

Link frowned, "There... there has to be something. We couldn't have hiked through a storm just to come out with a suspicion, let alone nothing..."

Auru gave him a sympathetic look, "Not every excursion into the wilderness requires battles and hints. It could have been something, yes... and it could have been nothing. Regardless, the storm is gone and Princess Zelda should be informed. We should probably get down the mountain as quickly as possible."

Ashei smirked, "Don't want your knobby knees to give you a hard time? Being old does that you know."

"We'll see who's old when I trip you down the mountain. Would you like that instead of a steady walk?" the adventurer said sternly. Link could sense the joking tone in it, but it straitened Ashei out from insulting the poor man. The others probably couldn't tell, but the mountaineer was probably closer to the truth - the Hero could sense his weakness. Getting off the mountain would be a better idea than trying to find something that was most likely not there anymore. Link only wished there had been something more... there was the dead tree, but what did that mean? So far, it just meant the tree was dead... but... couldn't dead trees freeze as well?

Link suddenly wished Midna was there - her sense of magic and the arcane were next to none, while he had trouble even wrapping his head around it. Sure, he had come across the art, but when it came to the laws of such things, he was completely lost. The Twili had been fascinated with the stuff, and the impish Midna had been no different. Magic was in her and her people's blood. Zelda knew a lot about the subject as well - perhaps she could get a sense of what was going on, if anything.

Or, perhaps - and the most unlikely option - Zelda had been trying to get him out of his house all along for no apparent reason, other than to just get him to see the light of day again. Regardless, he did get out of the house...

_That is a splendid reason. _

_ "That is a pretty good reason..." _Link thought to himself, the party already beginning the decent off of Snow Peak. It certainly would be a shorter climb downward.

There was still only one thing that bothered the Hero as they descended - his hand still burned.

* * *

Back in the Twilight Realm, the land was in unrest - Their Queen was gone, the council in an uproar, and the people worried as to what would happen to their glowing world... but something else was stirring... something more primal then their guardianship over the Sacred Realm.

Beyond the never ending glow of Twilight, past the invisible gates of darkness, the monstrous populace of the Dark World roiled in their prison, wailing, snapping maws and clawing the dead ground with claws and heavy hands. A plan was forming for them - a quick and desperate one, but it now had begun.

Their Lord had a new host.

They prayed to their dark God... for his return.

For his revenge.

"Soon," They chanted, "Soon he will come. Soon... our prison lifted!"

The Dark World was alive again.

* * *

With the Ordon Goat stew boiling in a big pot over Link's fireplace, and his kitchen more or less clean, Sheik climbed up the ladders to the small window that served as a rather nice look out. Peace and Quiet was rather hard with Midna around - even with his friend Warren, it was nearly becoming unbearable... but duty first before one self. That was the Sheikah way, and Sheik was not about to change tradition and rule for the sake of comfort.

The view was a nice one; twilight was descending down on the village of Ordon, their thatched roofs blending into the yellows and greens of the forest. The sky was like a painting in life - vivid reds and blues mixing to become more complex. Who knew the end of a day could be so beautiful. A descending sun... the rise of the moon - The hour of Twilight was hardly a bleak time. Death to light worlders... life to Twili, but something else in between.

His red eyes shimmered in the last remnants of red sky, and finally dusk had passed on into night. The crickets were already well into their evening songs.

The brief moment of calm was over, however. Sheik needed to think on other things. Like how they wouldn't send the village in an uproar by keeping two of their young locked in Link's empty house... or how to shut Midna up when she started to ramble (as un-rudely as possible, mind. She was royal after all)... even thinking things as far as when they would meet up with the inevitable: Link and Midna's reunion. He needed to make sure it happened... needed to make sure the Queen of the Twilight didn't overexert herself. Small problems... but small problems could become big ones. Though the Sheikah could handle both, he didn't want to let them escalate.

At this point... Midna meant everything to his cause. Midna and her baby... Link too when he came right down to it.

But he decided to keep watch instead of ponder too much on those things. He doubted he would need to watch too hardly - the village was a quiet one.

Everything would come together in time.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Sorry for the super long wait on this - not to mention, sorry it isn't long for such the long wait. Things come up, things go, and more things come up, and life tends to lead you down a roller coaster that you didn't intend to be on, but... well, we've all been there at some point, so I apologize for the long wait that didn't intend to be one.

I continue to thank you for your reviews and support of this story. Sorry if this chapter comes off as kind of boring, but... it needed to be here, because it had to for information's sake - and sometimes they aren't all that fun. Rest assured, some more action will happen in chapter 12, so hold your Epona(s).

Without further waiting, here we go:

**Chapter 11:**

**Uncivilized**

_Ilia had to confess that being unconscious wasn't so bad - she still got to dream... dreams were rather pleasant when you knew you were not going to wake up for a while. And here she was, in front of Link's house on a pleasant spring day. He had returned from a short trip in a dour and sorrowful mood, slamming the door shut practically in her face and locking it. However Ilia yelled at him through the door, no matter what threat she used (she had even said she would steal Epona again), no moves were made to open Link's self made blockade. _

_ Had he ever acted like this before? Perhaps at times when they were at odds with each other, but something about this was different. The first day he came back she tried for hours to get him to open up by knocking on his door periodically. It didn't work. _

_ The second day, she brought something for him - a small present of ripe Ordon pumpkins. Ilia knew that Link had taken quite a liking to them when they were younger and commonly put them into some sort of soup. Perhaps that would get him to open the door and see the village again. The goat ranch would need him soon anyway... Fado was doing better, but he didn't have the nerves for angry animals like Link did. _

_ It felt like an eternity of knocking, but the young man would not open his door - not even so much as a peep from within. She decided to just set the pumpkins down, calling in to tell him they were there, and left walking slowly back to her home. _

_ The third day got her a little worried and a little hopeful. The pumpkins were gone, but that didn't really mean anything. Monkeys or some other animal could have swiped them from his small porch. She climbed up, knocked on his door and once again no answer. She was a little peeved now and for some reason she decided to bang harder - perhaps he had gone deaf since she last saw him? _

_ Still, no matter how hard she pounded his door, it seemed nobody would hear. She went home in a huff. _

_ The fourth day got her into trouble. She was still mad from yesterday and banged on his door, proclaiming the children, especially Colin, were upset that he hadn't even bothered to see them. Weren't they his friends after all? What about her? What was so bad off that he couldn't just poke his head out and say hello? _

_ Having enough of her responses fall on supposedly nobody, Ilia climbed down Link's ladder harshly and folded her arms the way angry Ordon women would when complaining about their husbands. She didn't want to leave empty handed today - she just couldn't relinquish her desire to see the ranch hand come outside at least once. What was he doing in there anyway? _

_ A sudden and very devious idea struck her then, a not-quite smile spreading across her face like a naughty thought. She couldn't possibly... she was too proper to do that... but... on the other hand... _

_ A few minutes later she had crafted a rather rickety stand to put herself on, (consisting of an old stump, a flat rock and even one of Link's practice targets ) and tall enough to just see into Link's left window - exactly where his bed was placed. To her lovely surprise the window was open, but any notion of entering Link's house was bashed to pieces when she saw Link's limp and sleeping body in the way. It took her everything she had to keep silent, clapping one of her hands over her mouth to stop from breathing. _

_ She leaned forward, wondering why any decent sort of person would be asleep at two in the afternoon, but she decided it was a stupid question - besides who was to say that he didn't get tired now and then? _

_ For four straight days. _

_ Yeah, fat chance. _

_ Putting both hands quietly on the rib of Link's window, her eyes darted past the young man and into his home. She frowned at what she spotted. His place was a complete mess: _

_ She supposed it was because he had been gone from his home so long before... an entire year without dusting or generally caring for anything in one's home always accumulated an amount of stuff that was rather undesirable. Luckily she didn't smell anything rotting in there - She guessed Link did clear out his kitchen area, but it still looked just as dusty as the rest of the place. Piles of random junk were strewn about, like he had thrown it off in a rage. Very random items too... like arrows, and tinctures, and items that Ilia could not describe by any name she knew. Even his clothes looked like they had been taken off and thrown at the opposing wall of his bed, which brought Ilia to another conclusion. _

_ She was spying on Link, who was shirtless, and his only article of clothing was the pair of tight pants that he had grown accustomed to wearing. For a moment she felt very silly and blushed profusely - she decided that the best course of action would be to look back at the inside of the house, and not at Link's indecency. _

_ Mess, mess, and more mess. Link had really let his house - and maybe himself - go a little too far without care. Her search would have gone on longer if Link hadn't started mumbling in his sleep. _

_ "...Don't go..." he muttered into his pillow, "I can't... no..." _

_ He shivered, goose bumps actually showing in the warm spring air. He clutched himself into a little ball and continued with his sleep talking. _

_ "Midna... no... " _

_ She raised a blonde eyebrow at that - who was this Midna he muttered about? Was it just a fevered dream? Something that was a part of Link's mind hidden from the rest of the world? Ilia strained to hear, but her attempts at any further eve's dropping were stopped as her fragile stand finally collapsed. She made a startled gasp, her buttocks colliding with the ground, a loud "oof!" coming off of her lips. She looked behind her, angry that her temporary stool toppled, but she now suspected it wasn't her fault that it did. _

_ In front of her, Colin's father, Rusl looked at her with disapproving eyes. _

_ "Last I checked, " he said in that fatherly but stern tone of his, "Ilia of Ordon did not spy through windows." _

_ "I wasn't-!" She interjected, but she stopped herself. The last thing she wanted to do was just embarrass herself, "Okay, yes... I was spying... but that wasn't how it started." _

_ "I'm sure it wasn't." Rusl was clearly unimpressed. He folded his arms at her, and then Ilia thought that - perhaps- the gesture was not just reserved for Ordonian women. _

_ Ilia felt her eyebrows furrow in indignation, "Why should you be mad at me... at least I'm actually trying to get one of our closely loved citizens outside again. What is so wrong in trying to see what he has been up to? I'm worried about him..." _

_ The old swordsman gave her a rough look, "Ilia, he needs time to be alone, rather than being pestered." He helped the young lady back on her feet, picking her up like she weighed nothing. Despite Rusl's age, he still carried himself very well. _

_ Dusting off the dirt and dust from her pants, she fell into step with Rusl as they walked back to Ordon, feeling her mouth turn into a sour expression. Was she honestly doing something wrong to check on Link? Perhaps if she did it in a few more days, Rusl wouldn't be hauling her back ready to give a lecture on who knows what. It wasn't like she was going to barge in and enter the Goat Herder's house without permission. That was just silly. _

_ ... _And Spying isn't?

_ She shook the question off as Rusl hurried past his neighbors, ignoring their mild hellos and how-do-you-do's. Instead of going inside Rusl's house, however, the swordsmen lead her to the side where he kept his firewood and gave her a very stern glare. _

_ "Really, Ilia," Rusl said in a low tone, nearly a whisper, "I thought you held self control. The other children have been planning to do the same thing you tried to do today - I'm surprised you had the same thoughts." _

_ Ilia glowered back at him, looking offended, "Rusl, someone needed to check on him. And how are we supposed to do that if he doesn't open his door-" _

_ "Ilia," Rusl tried to say calmly, "You just don't spy on people like that. Not him. Certainly not for someone like him..." _

_ People like him? What did he mean by that, "Last I checked, Link is still one of us. I didn't think you would exclude Link out of -" _

_ "That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that you need to give Link his space, and give him time to get over the things he has seen... get over the things he has done." _

_ The Mayor's daughter huffed, "Rusl, I understand he's been through a lot but so have I! So have Colin, Beth, Talo and Malo! Why can't - " _

_ "_Ilia!_" Rusl whispered vehemently, silencing her once again, "Even Colin knows better. You need to leave Link alone. He has been through war Ilia. _War. _A man. Does not. Come home the same after going through what our Link has gone through. We cannot even begin to understand. And if you had any respect or love for him at all, it would be good to keep your distance. You can knock on his door once in a while, but what you did was uncalled for." _

_ For the first time in a long time, Ilia of Ordon felt very ashamed of herself. _

_ "I'm... I'm sorry..." she muttered, "I just... Rusl, I just wanted to make sure he was okay! He's my best friend, and I haven't had a... a normal talk with him in a year! A whole year Rusl! Why did he have to go and fight that... that stupid war anyway..." _

_ The last bit she didn't mean to blurt out loud, but she was losing control of her emotions. The war had it's own effects on her - how could being shot and dragged away from your home not cause some sort of anxiety? Everyone's lives had been shattered during that year... and brought back together - and for some reason, it still felt broken. Nothing was back to normal... nothing was the way it was supposed to be. Ordon was still a quiet little town, but after last year's events, it was beginning to feel small and cramped. Like a cage. _

_ "Ilia..." Rusl said more calmly now, "If Link hadn't gone out there to find you and fight that war, you wouldn't be standing in front of me right now. Hyrule would still be in chaos. People would be dying... not to mention you wouldn't be the Ilia we knew." _

_ "...And now we have a Link that we don't know anymore." Ilia muttered. It was heartless to say, she knew. But it was only the truth. _

_ Rusl sighed now, resting one of his rough hands on the pile of firewood next to him and shook his head, "Ilia... Link is still Link. It is still him after all. But he's done his fair share of growing up. He's still Link... he's just older and wiser. More then what he used to be. Yes, he is different in some ways. Yes he has been absent and distant from us, but he needs time to let things... sink in. Farore knows he hasn't had the time to sit down this entire year. I think it's only fair that we just let him be for the time being until he wants to show his face himself." _

_ "But -" _

_ "No 'buts' Ilia," Rusl said easily over her meek voice, "If the lad wants to be alone and shut away, let him be. Four days is hardly enough time to sit with your thoughts from a whole year of war and violence. " _

_ Ilia didn't speak afterwards, but Rusl sent a serious stare towards her once again, "And I'm warning you, if you try to spy on Link again, I'll make sure your father puts you in charge of the Goat's pens for a month. Do I make myself clear young lady?" _

_ How could she argue with the man? He was practically Link's father after all... she had to respect him that way at least. _

_ "Yes, Rusl..." Ilia sighed, "I understand. I'll give him his space." _

_ And that was that... nothing from that buffoon of a man for months... three long months, past Spring and into Summer. Her desire to talk to Link grew stronger with every passing day - she was just so concerned... and certainly after the first month had past, her feelings only escalated from there. Even Rusl and her own father were tempted to break down the door to just make sure he was alright - but something in them told them to not try, or they were too frightened to. Why they were frightened, Ilia couldn't fathom. Link wasn't scary... even depressed or angry Link was still very prone to conversation. _

_ Three months was far too long... far too long to not to talk to anyone. What did he do in there all day? How could he have locked himself in there without getting some kind of cabin fever? She remembered those two messengers from Castle Town, bearing Link a letter and wanting to make sure it got into his hands personally. She thought the men were fools. He would never open the door for them... would he?_

_ Regardless, she had made her decision to go see him on the last day of the month, a basket full of apples and Colin coming along for the excursion. How could he resist opening the door then? _

_ Yes... the apples... they smelt so nice. _

"Mmm... apples...," Ilia muttered, feeling her eyes cracking open. They felt heavy and somewhat dry. Delicious smells of cooking and baking immediately hit her nose, making her mouth water.

"I think she's waking up...," Came an odd voice to her left. It came out muffled, ebbing in and out of her ears like a pond's ripple. She almost couldn't understand the man. At least, she thought it was a man.

She heard someone scoff further off - a very feminine scoff, "About time she did. I was about to dump cold water onto her face. Well, somebody get her up! Food is ready... and get _him _down from his stupid watch post."

"Of course ma'am... of course."

Foot steps quickly walked away from her, but then a smaller pair pattered their way closer.

"Ilia? Ilia, are you okay?"

Without a doubt that was Colin. Ilia managed to open her eyes a little further now, finally able to see where exactly she was.

To her surprise, she was laying on Link's bed, nestled in the corner by the window. Looking out of it, the last remnants of light were sinking over the horizon and night was beginning to take hold. Crickets could be heard outside as well as the hoots of owls. How long had she been knocked out?

"Colin?" She muttered. It didn't come out as hoarse as she thought it would, "What... what happened?"

The boy was about to speak up, but the bossy and feminine voice from earlier spoke first, "You fainted, silly girl."

Ilia's head shot up, eyes locking onto the woman who stood a little away from Colin - she thought that the blood was draining from her face again. It was the last thing she saw before blacking out... the black and blue woman. Eyes yellow and red like the setting sun with fire red hair to match the flames being lit at night... and that voice. That voice sounding like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Colin..." Ilia said uneasily, rising from the bed and motioning to Colin, "Get away from her... come over here to me... right now."

"Oh for Din's sake, girl." the woman said, "I'm not going to suck his blood. Get up and put something warm in you, before you go fainting again."

Regardless of the woman's forced hospitality, Ilia was not willing to budge from her spot. Who were these people? What were they doing in Link's home? Why hadn't Colin run to get help?

What was she doing still _sitting here? _

Colin looked up at Ilia tentatively, his gaze hardly looking fearful for his own life, let alone her own, "Ilia... she's not lying. They aren't going to hurt us."

"Colin, how could you say that? How do you know?"

The boy lifted up his hands, "Ilia! It's alright! These are Link's friends!"

"_Friends?_" Ilia practically shrieked - she took quite a bit of notice to the fact that Colin had said friend with an "s" at the end of it. Which meant that there were more people in the house, which meant that there were more of these strange...

"Got him, Midna," another echo-like voice said, coming down the set of ladders to her right, and with him another strange man that did not look anything like the outlandish burglars. Though he appeared to have normal skin and blonde hair, Ilia found him more mysterious - and possibly more frightening - then the others with glowing symbols on their skin. The one eye that showed from beneath his long bangs was a piercing red, and almost matched Midna's own eyes in their ferocity.

"Good," The apparently named Midna replied, "Didn't want you hanging up there like a monkey forever. No one from the village isn't going to even think about investigating until... tomorrow, or something."

The woman waved her hands nonchalantly as if they were talking about the wind. Ilia wasn't sure to be offended or not.

"I'll have you know," the Ordonian girl began, "that we're not imbeciles! Rusl, our town guardian will show you -"

Midna shut her up by giving her a flat glare and snapping her fingers, "Just come to the table, sit down, have a bite to eat, and shut up. We're going to explain ourselves." She sighed snootily, then added, "Well, mostly anyway."

Ilia hissed over to Colin to get closer to her, "Colin... Colin, you trust these people?"

The boy vigorously shook his head, "No, but we're not getting out of here either. Not from these people... the blonde guy especially."

She spared a glance at the oddly dressed man, and then brought her eyes back down to Colin.

"So, you're saying we should do what this lady is telling us to do?"

Shrugging, Colin replied, "It's not like they poisoned it. They look hungry too, and I saw them make it while you were out. I don't know if I believe their Link's friends or not, but... but we might as well let them talk to us, right?"

Both the Ordonians looked at each other and then looked at the odd group of intruders, their faces grim as each saw distrusting looks and unease, but for entirely different reasons.

Ilia stammered, "I guess... we should sit down then."

"That would be the _polite _thing to do, now wouldn't it?" Midna replied tersely, lifting her chin up in the air, "Plenty of seats for everyone after all."

Colin gave the Mayor's Daughter something that was probably supposed to be a calming look, but Ilia's nerves hardly took in the gesture as she made herself walk toward a stool - casually set aside like a welcoming invitation in which she wished she could openly decline. It was hard to make herself sit down, much less not be tempted to jump out of Link's window...

Regardless of any of her haphazard emotions at the present time, she took the stool and sat down as slowly as possible, half expecting for it to bite her. Even with the slow decent, Ilia felt the stool fall slightly lopsided - she frowned down at the stool, and with the expression still left on her face, she looked at this Midna character.

Both stared at each other for a few moments; Ilia's eyes set on remaining unpleasant, while Midna's... seemed to challenge her, like she wasn't good enough.

Needless to say, Ilia couldn't hold the gaze for long.

"No need to introduce yourself..." Midna commented dryly, "I know much more about you than I'd like to care about, thanks to Link - don't worry, none of it is bad."

_"Midna... Don't go..." _ Link's mumbled and sleepy voice came back to Ilia with shocking clarity. Her recollection of the memory made her breathe sharply.

The mayor's daughter could feel her face scrunching up further. She certainly hoped Link hadn't mentioned anything bad about her - especially to this... strange woman. Or whatever she was.

"Here... have a bowl of Ordon Goat stew. Not sure how it tastes so I apologize beforehand. Well... _he'll _have to apologize, "Midna stated by tilting her head over to the blonde man, and suddenly handing her a bowl already brimming with a very nice smelling stew, "... he's the one who did the cooking - I insisted that I try but, naturally, someone else takes care of it for me. So I cut some apples. Hope you don't mind. I haven't had fresh apples in a long, long time..."

A mild cough from the other man - the man with hair like Midna's - brought the woman out of her rambling, and she sighed.

"Yes and yes, Warren... I'm getting to it," Midna replied irritably, rolling her eyes in way as if she wished that the strange man was out of sight and out of mind for just a few good minutes. Before she spoke again she took a startlingly large bite of her own bowl of stew. Once it was in her mouth for a good few seconds, she moaned pleasantly and dropped her composure just so. With a full mouth she turned to the blonde haired, red-eyed man and said, "This is _exactly _how I remember it. Glad you're useful for other things other than just being cryptic!"

If the strange woman's comments bothered the man, he did not show it. In fact - to Ilia's eyes - it seemed to bounce off of him like a ball off a nicely cobbled street. The emotionless man made the Ordonian girl want to shiver.

Swallowing her big gulp of stew, Midna steadied herself, "Well... I'm guessing you have lots of questions?" Her voice became sing-song in tone, "Go ahead, ask away. I think that's the better route, wouldn't you say?"

Ilia could feel her voice pause in her throat. Indeed, she did have quite a bit to ask - but where to start was the question. Perhaps she should start by asking where they had come from... or what they were doing here-

"How do you know Link?" Colin asked in the midst of Ilia's silence. The mayor's daughter swiftly looked down at Colin for speaking before her, but she had to admit the question was a good one. "And don't give us a short answer either. As Link's friends, we should know."

Midna herself looked taken aback by Colin's sudden bravery. But a look of knowing sparked in her eyes, and she set her bowl down after she took another swift bite.

"Brave little squirt aren't you?" The dark woman smiled slightly, a half smirk that lit up a mischievousness to her personality, "You undoubtedly have some prime examples of that from your peers. I admire that tenacity, dear."

Midna lazily took a finger and put a stray ethereal hair strand out of her face, "Where to start... hmmm... well, I've already mentioned that I met him during the war... at the near start, I should say. Am I right?"

"Yes." Collin said, "But how do you really know him?"

"He was my ally. The closest." the strange woman replied, her vision downcast , "During the war, we helped each other save your world... and in turn, mine. He and I were a team. We were small, but together, we accomplished great things... at least in my head they are pretty great. In my personal opinion."

Colin seemed satisfied, but Ilia wasn't. The answer accounted for Midna, but who were the other two?

"What about these two... men?" Ilia asked, eyeing the aforementioned strangers with suspicion and distrust.

"Oh them? That one by the stove is Sheik. Don't bother asking him questions, because he'll pretend like he's not listening to you and won't answer them. If he does, it will be rare that it will be the answer you want. So just don't bother. He's with me and that's all that matters. As for the other one, that would be Warren. He's kind of a push over... the _nice _pushover."

Warren, who adequately looked of the same species as Midna, Ilia decided, frowned a bit at Midna's statement. Whatever Sheik had to display was well hidden by the shawl he wore. The mayor's daughter thought he could appear unimpressed when looking at his eyes a certain way, but she couldn't be certain.

Despite the grand subtleties of his mistress, Warren stepped away from the wall and tipped his head slightly in greeting, "Sorry for the scare earlier, light worlders... I can at least assure - if you don't trust my companions - that we mean no harm. We came here for Midna's saftey-"

"I thought I was telling the story, Warren." Midna's tone was quite frank: Ilia already guessed that this Warren fellow had already said a bit much. The other worldly woman didn't seem annoyed or agitated by the fact, but the mayor's daughter found it was probably a wise choice to pipe down.

"Light worlders?" Colin quoted, fumbling over the strange phrase, "Is that what you called us?"

Midna sighed, "Yes, that is what he called you."

"What does that make you, exactly?" Ilia questioned, one of her eyebrows raising upward. Her nervousness was quickly being replaced by curiosity as their conversation went on.

The strange woman pursed her lips, blinking in an attempt to avoid answering the question - but something in her eyes flickered and she surrendered the response, "I believe you have heard the term before. In fact, technically you have seen our kind in the past - but only a twisted and broken version. However, I must stress that we, the Twili, are not monsters."

"You mean... those dark creatures... from... from the war?" Colin said, his voice strained and eyes sharper. He looked as if he struggled with an inner fear - a subject that everyone wanted to avoid when they came back to town. Ilia shared the same sentiments, and could feel her stomach tighten into knots.

Midna nodded again, "Yes. Those are the ones I mean - but... though they were once... our people, they abandoned what sanity they had when they turned into those... things."

The woman looked as strained as the Ordonians had, her small hands forming into tight fists; the very thought of what they were a plague upon her mind. Ilia could tell she was still quite pained about it, but the expression soon left her - as if the wind picked up her face and replaced it with a new one.

"But as I was saying," she continued "We are peaceful, and do not wish to harm anyone. Whatever happened during the war... we were only pawns in a greater game... but that's not a discussion for tonight."

"...You said you were seeking shelter - or that's what Mr. Warren said over here... it was Warren wasn't it?" Ilia said, turning her head to address both Midna, and her other friend. The other twili nodded, his markings on his exposed body beginning to glow in the declining light. It was truly eerie...

Midna sighed, "Indeed, that is all. But, I don't believe we planned to stay here for long... unless I am mistaken, Sheik?"

The strange woman tilted her head just so in the masked man's direction. The one visible eye through the blonde man's hair darted toward her.

"Staying here would be best. But if you wish to move elsewhere, we can." he said in a dead voice. It was quiet, but strong. Much like Link's, but... more secretive - perhaps more lethal.

Midna looked like she was deep in thought for a moment, sighing through her nose and pressing a finger to her mouth.

"I think..." she said finally, "...it would be wise of us to stay here... however... it wouldn't be wise to keep these two locked up in Link's house... as much as I objected otherwise."

Warren suddenly looked surprised, "But... Midna... are you sure that is-"

"You can keep a secret, right?" The strange woman interrupted, her gaze now falling _directly _onto Ilia. Her stare was penetrating, not unlike the setting sun itself. It was hard to keep looking at her.

"I'd like to think so," Ilia said "...and if it means your safety, I wouldn't jeopardize that."

"Really?" Midna questioned, "Even after all we just told you? Most of you village still thinks we're the enemy, as much of your world. Are you really so trusting?"

Ilia scowled, "No, but Colin and I trust Link's judgment. And if... if Link trusted you, then there is nothing to fear. As long as you're telling the truth, then I don't see any problems coming due to you staying in his house."

"You couldn't do much to remove us anyway... no offence."

Warren hissed, "Midna... really."

Colin's face scrunched up, "What do we tell Dad where we've been all afternoon?"

"Don't worry Colin... I'll think of something," Ilia replied, her gaze never leaving Midna's slightly glowing stare.

So Link trusted this... woman, did he? She briefly wondered how in the world _anyone _could put their lives into such a face. So much mischievousness there, so much mystery.

Perhaps Link had solved her.

"We'll let you go." Midna finally said, standing up out of her chair. Surprisingly, her bowl of stew was already completely finished. Ilia looked down at her bowl, still teeming with the with the freshly prepared food. She felt slightly hungry before but now...

She pushed the bowl away from her as she and Colin stood.

"Yes.. we'll let you go, as long as you continue to say that Link remains here, undisturbed. I think you can fill in the rest," Midna continued, her smile never ceasing. "Warren, see them to the door... I must talk alone with Sheik."

Warren rolled his eyes some, walking over to the Light Worlders and leading them out.

"Sorry about all this," the strange man said to them "But... it would do us all a favor if you kept this secret from your village... When this... Link gets here, perhaps more answers will come. Until then, pretend we don't exist."

"I'm not going to lie, Mr. Warren..." Ilia said, sighing, "That isn't going to be easy... given you're appearance."

Colin shrugged, "We won't send anyone after you. Like Ilia said, if Link trusts you, we can trust you too."

When Warren opened the door, night was upon them. Ilia prayed that the village hadn't started an uproar about them - hopefully they would all assume Link had let them in, or better yet, she and Colin just spent a nice day together at the Spring. Of course, ever since the war, it was hard to predict what the village would do about situations like this anymore.

"Come on Colin, I'll take you home." the Mayor's daughter said, motioning for him to go down the ladder first, as Warren watched apprehensively. Soon, Ilia followed suit and hurried back to the village.

She didn't dare look back - she would keep her mouth shut.

She only hoped Colin did the same.

* * *

The small hills quickly swallowed the girl and boy up from Midna's view as she looked out the top most window in Link's house. Her mood was indecipherable, but the cogs in her head were turning about their arrival. If there was anything about accidents that she had learned from her travels, is that they were sometimes a push in the right direction by someone greater then herself, or any other mortal for that matter.

Case in point, running into Ilia and Colin was certainly an accident, if not an immense slip up on her part. However, there were plusses on having friends in humans - especially humans who were close to Link.

"You don't think they'll talk, do you?" Midna questioned, her gaze still searching out the night. The faint lights of Ordon could be seen from up here.

"I doubt it," Sheik said after a moment from behind, his voice as passive as ever, "These country folk are not liars. Bad judges of character, maybe... not certainly not liars. They seem to revere your consort enough that they believe you - and when they believe, they will follow. For the most part."

"Indeed..." Midna said, unimpressed, "... Of course, now you have me, Warren, and these two Ordonians following you. Whatever are you thinking, Mr. Know-It-All?"

Sheik did not respond immediately, but when he did his tone did not change, "When the time is right, you will know. Just continue to know that I will not suffer to let you come to harm, your majesty."

Midna could only respond with a huff. The Shiekah was still as cryptic as ever, or foggy at least.

"I'm guessing the time is right when Link decides to show up," she supplemented.

"Yes."

"And we have no idea when that is."

"No."

"Fabulous."

"...You asked, and I answered."

Midna snorted, "You, _Sir_, hardly answer anything. I would certainly love to know your motivation - Your knowledge of the events that lead us here. But I doubt those secrets will leave your sealed lips, now will it?"

Sheik said nothing.

"Fine," The Queen said flatly, "This discussion is over. Just know, Sheik, that I will find the answers myself if you keep silent forever."

Even though Midna was not facing the masked man, she got the distinct feeling that he was smiling behind his shawl.

"...Well, Ma'am, you are clever enough. I suppose you could. I will leave you now."

She did not reply as the Sheikah descended down the series of ladders. He was growing more irksome by the hour. Midna did _not _like information kept from her.

_Hurry up wolf boy..._

* * *

**_Please review if you can! - Mudora_**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Oh, my, whatever. There is an update, and you should be proud of me. Or not proud of me, as I find this to be a particularly short update for how long this has been sitting in my computer files. I've randomly picked it up, then dropped it, then picked it up again. My college major takes a lot of time, and we are working on our senior film... so naturally, my time to spend writing is very short and sparse. Not to mention my fancies tend to switch in between quickly, and I have come up with many more interesting ideas for fan fictions that aren't based on tropes... or not as many, I suppose. You may see them here, you may not. Who knows. But this story is not 100% of my attention. So please bare that in mind when you send me PM's regarding this story or any reviews that might come my way. I know you all are highly invested, and I know what it's like to be on the other end, waiting for an update... but, it will come with time. **

**Without further ado, please enjoy.**

**Chapter 12: Uncovered**

The early morning dawn began to creep over in the east, highlighting the mist that had settled into the small valley far south of the hustle and bustle of Hyrule Castletown. Though, quite the peaceful scene, given the morning bird calls and the last vestiges of cricket chirps, the young man atop his bulky mare couldn't help but feel rather uninspired from the view. He had seen it countless times with much better company than himself, and the ever dreaded feeling of 'dull' rocked at his mood.

Link let another yawn take him, stretching his jaw to its limits. Letting go of the reins, he stretched his back a little, allowing his body to at least get rid of some of the kinks hidden in his joints.

Being tired wasn't exactly the best way to begin a morning, but Link bore that small burden anyway. It was best that he was finally away from Castletown, and out of reach from the crowds and general noise. He could only take the city life for so long before aching to leave it for sunny hillsides and quiet grottos.

Leaving earlier that morning had been a good idea; Link knew that Auru, Shad, Ashei, and Telma would have objected to him leaving so soon when he had just got back from the short trip to Snow Peak, and leaving in the wee hours was the best option. He had nothing against the now ex-team of rebels, but now that the short trip was over, the older parts of him desired to head home.

The Ordonian couldn't help but wonder if the whole thing was just a waste of time. After reporting their minimal findings to the Princess, even Zelda couldn't determine what had caused such a strange phenomena.

"This will take some time for me to... study," she had said slowly. Her brow was downcast and her eyes brimmed with uncertainty, "Still, if it was really nothing... I must apologize. I didn't want to drag you into this to bring you away from your home. I had to be sure."

The explanation was as good as any, in Link's mind. Out of anyone in Hyrule, Zelda was probably the only person he truly trusted anymore after the whole Twilight ordeal. Something else in him also decided that he had best leave it at that since there really was nothing up there, as far as he was concerned.

What he didn't tell Zelda or the others, however, was that his hand was still burning. Why this was, the Ordonian wasn't sure - but the last thing he wanted to be involved in was yet another adventure. At this point, all he wanted was to just retire for a little more in his home in the forest, and plan his days from there. In his mind, he had decided that adventures and magic with mayhem were well behind him - and whatever cravings he had left was part of the wolf, and not of himself.

And in a sense, he felt closer to Midna - if it wasn't for her, he never would have started on any sort of adventures at all. She was technically the one who showed him the world... and was there the whole way. But for such a short time...

The thought was quickly pushed from his mind when another yawn hit the Hero. He was too tired to dwell on things such as the past. The past was only filled with painful memories - not to mention it was hard to concentrate with the harsh burning in his right hand.

"If this doesn't stop soon..." he growled to himself, reminding him of how he used to sound just after wolf transformations, "I'll ask for help... or I'll just cut you off."

The statement itself was a joke, but there was a part of him that subtly nodded in agreement, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.

With that terrible thought in mind, Link passed the threshold into Faron Woods.

The early morning fog seemed thicker here than in the open field, the wild life and abundant plant growth covered by the wispy grey mask. The strange shop keeper who lived in the shack to Link's right didn't seem to be awake - far too early to be selling oil out here to any wandering caravans or lone riders. The Hero was subtly grateful. He didn't want to deal with him at the moment. He wasn't in any mood to really socialize.

He wondered if he would really ever want to socialize again.

_Has she really affected me that much?_ Link wondered, his eyes downcast, and not really directing Epona to where they were headed. The mare, sensing her master's restlessness and dour mood kept walking toward the spring, and subsequently, the bridge that crossed over the giant chasm, separating Ordon from Hyrule proper. The quiet echo of Epona's hooves was the only sound that kept Link awake through the whole ride, and it wasn't long until they were already passing Ordona's spring.

The smell of home finally hit Link hard, an unseen weight lifting off of him. The time spent away from his modest house seemed like he had been gone for another year. The familiar scents of dank earth and wilderness was enough to settle Link's nerves, for the time being. For a long stretch of time, he wondered why he had been so eager to leave Ordon in the first place, before all the chaos had started in his life.

But... that was neither here nor there - the point was, he was home. That's what mattered. He prayed to all three Goddesses that the ex-rebels wouldn't come banging down his door anytime soon. He mildly thought, as he got off Epona and began to remove his effects, that the idea wasn't a preposterous one, given that he wasn't going anywhere. Link sighed it off; if Ashei and the others began to pry open his door, he'd deal with it when the time came. Right now was what mattered. And right now, he wanted to go inside and sleep. Sleep well into the afternoon if he could help it.

"Dear Goddesses..." Link muttered, annoyed, "Why aren't you calming down?"

He was talking to his right hand in quiet mumbles, the pain beginning to feel like an ache rather than a burning sensation. It ebbed in and out of intensity - Link was very aware that things _happened _when it did that, and he had been on his guard the entire way back from the mountains. Rest was rather hard to come by on the short trip back from Snow Peak, and he hid his weariness well from his companions - or at least he thought. Auru probably couldn't be fooled (as was the case with many things with him) but Ashei and Shad had been completely blind. Still... none of them could possibly know the reason for his restlessness.

However, Zelda probably had a good idea right from the start. Just from remembering her inquisitive eyes, Link couldn't help but involuntarily shiver. The Princess was far from frightening, of course, but she was far too intuitive for her own good. Link wasn't so sure he liked that, deep down. He liked his secrets right where they were, regardless of what they were, and the idea of someone somehow instantly knowing you was not a comforting one.

Whether that power was available to Zelda was fairly debatable.

The Hero sighed once more instead of continuing to dwell on any of that, and slung his things over his shoulder to carry it up to his house. The climb was slow and deliberate, and the action caused some restlessness to leave him. He was home, and that was that. He could take these ancient clothes off, probably put the sword back to where it belonged and be on with his merry (and somewhat lonely) life.

Perhaps... now was a good time to just step out and move on. The residence of Ordon were worried about him, he knew. He needed a good talk with Rusl and Uli... they always seemed to understand him best...

He got to the small landing, and pressed a lazy hand to the door handle... but the door wouldn't budge.

It was locked.

"What the..."

If there was anything that Link remembered best, it was that he never locked his door. This was Ordon, for Goddesses' sake. Ordon was hardly a den of unrest, especially if you knew everyone in the village by name, if not by face. Still... perhaps Ilia, Colin, or someone had noticed that he was gone and had locked his door for him. It wasn't an impossible notion... but Ordonians respected one's privacy. Link had basically requested it when he didn't want to interact with anyone. They wouldn't have gone and lock his door, let alone go near or in his house without permission.

Which begged the question of who would lock his door?

Link felt an instinctive sneer coming on, the wolf rearing its head behind the threatening gesture. Either someone had locked his door... or someone was in his house.

He had plenty of reason to believe the latter more.

Despite this minor setback, Link always held a key to his house. Instead of rummaging for it gruffly and muttering to himself, he slipped into his pouch quietly, finding the key without too much noise. Pulling it out, he carefully slipped it into the key hole, his phantom haunches rising in anticipation for attack.

_You don't break into my house without consequences..._

Before unlocking the door, Link put a careful ear up to the wood and listened in. There were voices steadily coming through, and it sounded like a heated conversation. He couldn't really make out if it was anyone familiar though. The door was too thick.

Still, it wasn't just someone in his house - it was multiple people.

That wasn't good. It was time to shove them out.

Link wasn't the sneaky sort. He took situations head on, and like goats, by the horns. If these people thought that breaking into his house was okay, he was going to make sure that they knew it wasn't alright and plant that thought into the very marrow of their bones.

He let his face set into a deep scowl, and kicked down his door with the force of a bucking war horse. The instant the opening was wide enough to step through, he unsheathed the Master Sword, a metallic ring echoing throughout his home; he pointed it at the first person he saw near the entrance, a blonde haired man who wore a skin tight uniform. Link didn't bother to register other details before the man turned around, hardly looking startled.

Link didn't feel intimidated in the slightest.

"I don't care who you are," Link growled, teeth set and barred. The old wolf was coming out more so than he realized, "But you're getting out of my house. Now."

The other man didn't even flinch, not even at the pointy end of Link's sword. His red irises just stared back at him, mouth covered up by a shawl, seemingly waiting. Not to mention, if he was perceiving this right, the red eyed man seemed pleased at the reaction.

"I think you will care in a minute or two, hero." The man said, voice as tranquil as a still pool.

The sword didn't budge, and the edge didn't leave Link's voice. The fact that this stranger knew his title was startling, but he pressed on. He wasn't in the mood to ask questions. "I'm sure I'll care after I boot you out of my house-"

"Do we have a right to be concerned?" questioned a small voice from behind the red eyed stranger. Link wanted to bend his head to see, but he did not dare take his eyes off the one at the other end of his weapon.

The other man made no move to look away either. "No, Warren. He shouldn't hurt you... he knows your kind."

"I don't suppose I could ask him for a pipe-"

"No. You will not ask him that."

Link's wolfish face calmed a bit, his brow raising a little in question. The voice from behind Sheik didn't seem normal... like it was fading in and out. An Echo of a normal voice... and strangely familiar. He was tempted to move and see who else was there himself, but he didn't have to. The other intruder made himself known by stepping out from behind the red eyed stranger.

His race was immediately recognizable; a Twili.

"Goddesses." Link said, just staring at the timid Twili, eyes growing wide in a realization that he hoped wasn't a dream or a lie.

There was a Twili... an actual Twili standing in his kitchen. His bloody kitchen! Even with the mirror broken!

"How is this possible?" Link breathed, body still poised but spirit more excited than he had ever been before. He could have howled to the moon, "The mirror's shattered... our world's aren't connected anymore...?"

"To those who cannot see." The stranger said. He was looking at Link's eyes, calculating now.

The Twili apparently named 'Warren' didn't seem any less worried that Link would somehow move past the red eyed stranger and go straight for the jugular. He was trying to remain calm, all things considered. With a trained hand, he reached out in a peaceful gesture. "Please... we were out of options for somewhere reasonable to stay. Plus, she wasn't exactly susceptible to other choices we might have had-"

"She?" Link said, eyes wide, "You tell me who you all are first, and then we can talk about the reasons you're in here."

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Who was this 'she'?

Before any of them could speak up, a sound broke the air like bell chimes.

The unmistakable echoes of a childish laugh, heartening and demeaning at the same time. It was a laugh that Link could identify anywhere and any when. He looked up, his face stuck in an expression of disbelief. There, up in the rafters of his home, he saw her familiar face. The face he saw on the hill during Twilight... the face that shed a tear to crack the mirror. She sat there casually, legs dangling in the air, her posture perfectly impetuous beyond all reason. Even from the floor, Link could just feel the smile she was wearing.

Midna, the Twilight Princess, was in his home.

Her name left his lips in a whisper that was filled with too much; anger, sadness, happiness, confusion, shock. It was enough to make the hero drop his sword with a clatter.

He couldn't stop looking up at her, even when his right hand burned hot. Hot enough that his whole body felt numb.

_Why... why is it doing that? What is it ...? _

He couldn't even finish the thought before his own body betrayed him, knees buckling to the floor. Even then, he still couldn't look away from her; even as her face dropped the smile, he still thought she was beautiful, infuriating, and an illusion.

The last thing he felt before succumbing to unconsciousness was Midna's hand on his cheek, and her ethereal cloak surrounding him.

* * *

_"How many naps does a human need to feel rested? I've lost count how often you've nodded off." _

_ Link slowly blinked awake at the annoyed voice, eyes moving toward the glowing fire and the familiar sight of Epona resting in the grass nearby. Midna sat near the flames, holding a stick with a roasting fish and pouting in his general direction. Her yellow eyes looked unimpressed, yet charmed. _

_ It took him a few moments to really come up with a coherent answer. He had just been so tired lately, "I... well, I'm starting to think I'm not going to feel rested in a while. I don't think I've gotten enough sleep since this whole thing started." _

_ She hovered there, idly holding her stick while placing her chin in her other palm. "I think that's a lie. You're just a lazy boy." _

_ "Think what you want, Midna. Think what you want." _

_ The imp snorted, bringing her fish away from the fire and looking at it carefully. Apparently satisfied, she blew on it to take a bite. It had a satisfying crunch to it, and all Link could think about suddenly was how hungry he was. He found himself staring at Midna's meal with a twinge of jealousy, the wolf in him tempted to snag it away from her. Midna caught on quickly, however, and she clutched the fish in her teeth with a bit of a snarl. _

_ "Hold your damn hackles, wolf boy." She said, eyes narrowed in annoyance, "There's some cooking for you too, geeze. Just give it a few minutes." _

_ Link looked surprised, his mouth twisting up in a slight smile. "Midna, did you actually do something _not _selfish?" _

_ "Can it, flea bag. I just knew you'd be hungry. Besides... we almost have all the fused shadows. You've done a good job, so... might as well give you rewards now and then." _

_ "That's still very nice of you." _

_ "Don't expect it." _

_ Link rolled his eyes, picking himself up to move closer toward the fire. Sure enough, there was another fish sizzling over the flames. "Wouldn't dream of it." _

_ He could feel Midna's eyes on him as he moved to retrieve his dinner. The feeling used to scare him, a young man who was afraid of his own shadow, but now... now it just seemed normal to have the Imp there, spying on whatever she found interesting. Link would never admit it to her, but it was nice to have an extra pair of eyes. Even if those eyes were directed at him. _

_ He tested his fish with a tiny bite before Midna spoke up again. _

_ "Your leg better?" She asked, her mouth still full with food, "You're going to be doing a lot of swimming, you know. Looots of swimming." _

_ "I thought you out of anyone would know that when I changed back, my leg would be just fine. Either way, it feels pretty okay." Link said, digging into his dinner. It wasn't half bad - or he was just so used to this kind of food his taste buds didn't care. He looked back up at Midna, expecting a peeved look, but he was greeted with something else entirely. _

_ She looked concerned about something. And whatever she was concerned about somehow involved him. _

_ "Of course..." Link said after a moment, "You already knew my leg was fine, didn't you?" _

_ Midna said nothing as she finished the last bits of her fish, eyes not leaving him. She seemed wary, if anything - like she was debating whether or not to poke a scorpion with her finger. Link wasn't certain he liked that look on her. _

_ "You have a question, don't you?" _

_ The imp threw what remained of her meal into the flames, her eyes then focusing on the intense light. She floated into the air, lounging while resting her head on a tiny fist. _

_ "What did the Light spirit tell you? What did Lanayru have to say?" She finally said, her gaze no longer captivated by the fire. Her eyes rested on Link's, her stare almost as bright as a full moon. _

_ The question was enough for Link to pause in his eating, the very mention of the Light Spirit sending his poor mind twisting in the wrong direction. It had only been a few days since they had freed the giant serpent from the Twilight, but the tale that Lanayru had weaved in his private pool remained like a burn from a cattle brand. In all honesty, he had expected the question sooner from Midna - she hadn't heard the "conversation" after all, and had remained inconspicuously silent about the whole affair. It confused the Ordonian greatly. _

_ He raised a cool eyebrow, ice blue eyes watching his shadow with suspicion. "Why are you asking that now? Why not before?" _

_ "After we left that grotto, you didn't look particularly... inclined for conversation." Midna replied, examining her fingers. "I figured Lanayru had given you quite the lecture... what I'm curious over is what it was all about. I mean really... you looked so close to puking your guts into the lake after it was all over. Was what he had to show you that harrowing?" Her mouth suddenly split, her grin like a scythe hovering over wheat. "I didn't take the Light Spirits to be cruel... but I guess your appearance changes things up, doesn't it?" _

_ Link looked on with stony silence, his dinner now long forgotten. Her question stung harshly - and being with her this long, the Ordonian knew it wouldn't stop stinging until Midna's curiosity was fulfilled. In the end, she always got what she wanted... but after what Lanayru had shown him, had he expected anything else from her? _

_ A Twili? _

_ "Why do you want to know? You could care less on my wellbeing, we both know that. You don't care what happens to your little pawn. No one does." Link said bitterly, his face setting into a rigid glare that could petrify children. _

_ Midna continued on, not phased. She wasn't a child after all, "I need to know if I can trust you one last time." _

_ "Shouldn't I be asking that question?" _

_ The Imp giggled. "Now you're getting smarter. But the question still stands. I want to know what you heard. What was so desperately important for you to know from Lanayru?" _

_ Link snorted, folding his arms over his knees. The fire suddenly looked more interesting than Midna's horrible smile. He didn't want to tell her. He didn't want to make things more complicated than they already were. But Midna was something like a partner, despite her sometimes vicious nature. No matter the things Lanayru had shown him, it was his own duty that drove the words out of his mouth. _

_ "He showed me your tribe... and what got you banished to somewhere outside the realms. To be honest, I didn't quite understand it all. It was... a lot to take in." _

_ "Our history tends to be hard to understand. But I wouldn't have expected a Light Spirit to know that. From what I can tell, I don't think they understand mortals anymore than mortals understand them, eh?" _

_ Link frowned further. "He told me more about what you were after. About what these Fused Shadows can do. He warned me about them. Tell me, Midna... when you get them all, what are you going to do?" _

_ She looked at him sharply, her body floating to attention. It was then that Link remembered how much power that little frame contained - even though she only wore one piece of the fused shadow on her head like a crown, he was sure that even without it, there was something more there. Something deep and dark and old, the likes of which Link could only guess at. He couldn't stop looking into her, even as she crept through the air towards him. _

_ She stopped a very short distance from his face, her red iris aglow with an emotion Link couldn't grasp. He couldn't help but feel naked. _

_ "Link," Midna whispered, her tone like law, "Do you trust me?"_

* * *

It was a cool hand that brought him back from his memory, eyes aching and limbs moving through tar. With a sigh, he managed to grab the fingers that held his face - who was next to him? Ilia? Uli? It was still hard to see. His initial reaction was to push them away, attempt to get up, and tell whoever was there that he was fine - it was just a freak accident - but a sniff of the air froze his thoughts.

Even with the wolf gone, Link still had better senses than most, particularly hearing and smell. He grew accustomed to the idea that everyone had their own indentifying scent. Of course, Midna had her own. It was hard to describe such an arbitrary thing, since she had a scent he couldn't portray with the Light World's vocabulary. The only thing he could really put to it was that it was otherwordly. Perhaps it was sweet, perhaps it was feminine, perhaps it was a verity of things... all Link knew or cared about was that it belonged to her and she was easy to identify with it.

The smell was very close. Close enough to taste, he realized.

"I don't believe it." He muttered, eyes adjusting to the light finally, a figure coming into focus, "No... you can't..."

The hand gently slid up, a finger pressing on his lips to silence his bleary statements. Her smell filled his nostrils, and he was tempted to think he really hadn't woken up yet. He was still dreaming or reliving some memory of her.

"We can't have you waking up in a panic, my little wolf. You might faint again, and that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" Said a voice above him, echoing and melodic, with a slight tone of mischievousness and imperialistic tendency.

His eyes sharpened, one of his other hands grabbing hold of something that had been wrapped around him. He could see her sitting at the edge of his bed, her cloak draped over him like a starry night. Her dark lips were upturned in a calm smile, red and yellow eyes aglow with their secrets that Link could only guess at.

Despite Midna's finger being over his lips, Link spoke with as much shock a tired body would allow. "I'm not dreaming. I know I'm not. I can't be hallucinating. Please tell me I'm not."

She grinned despite the seriousness of the question. "I didn't take you for the... crazy and hysteric type. So I believe it's a safe bet that you aren't dreaming me up somehow."

"Are we alone?"

The question caught her off guard, but Midna didn't waste much time in answering it. "I told my companions to take a stroll in the deep woods for a while. They'll probably come back when night falls."

"Who were they?" He asked, the question instinctual. He couldn't shake the fact that it wasn't just Midna's scent in the room. Others lingered. It wasn't a comforting thought.

"Warren, one of my advisors. He was the Twili you saw. I doubt he could bring much harm to anyone. Sheik was the blonde haired man. I don't blame you if you don't like him. I wouldn't either. He's a secretive sort. Stop with the questions for a moment, you sound mad at me."

Link glared at her. It wasn't threatening, but it was enough to grab her attention. "Do you blame me?"

"The mirror, is it? You're mad I broke it."

"I could care less if you broke some random magical artifact. I'm mad that you didn't want to keep your promise. _You promised me, Midna._ And you up and left for what I thought would be forever. Why did you come back? And how?"

He was more awake than he originally thought. The edge in his voice returned, an edge that she wanted to avoid. He could see it in her, already trying to deflect the question to a different topic. It wasn't going to work this time.

"You can thank Sheik for finding a different way into the Light World. How he did it would involve a very boring lecture that I know you would hate. As for why I came, that... can wait for later. The point is I'm probably going to be here for quite some time... as far as I know, anyway. Sheik dragged me out here, so here I am."

Link frowned. "He smells like caves. I'm not excited about that."

Midna rolled her eyes, and then it was her turn to frown. "At the time, I was hard pressed to trust anyone else... so he brought me here. And by 'trust' I mean I was out of options. Once again we'll get into that later. What I would like to know is if you're making fainting a habit."

"I am not making-!" Link responded, sitting up out of anger. He bit his lower lip to hold back his annoyance, but his face was the only clue Midna needed. "No... I don't faint on a regular basis, your _highness._"

"Good to know... thank goodness you're not tall, because you are an absolute bastard to carry. Even without all your silly chainmail."

Link growled, looking underneath the cloak to find he was only in his light undershirt and leggings. His brow furrowed, mouth twisting into an embarrassed expression. "You carried me... you carried me?"

"What? It's not like I carried you over Death Mountain. You're just in your bed, after all... Goddesses, you must be starving if you're this irate."

Link's anger quickly turned into bewilderment, staring at her like she had sprouted wings and suddenly flown to Ordon. Even after spending so much time with her, she always managed to turn the tables in his head, his emotions along with it. He wasn't quite sure if he was fond of the idea, but perhaps it was just twisted self punishment. A frustrated growl was the only answer he could muster.

His frustrations where cut off, however, when Midna's arms wrapped around his shoulders, bringing him in close to the impetuous princess. The tresses of her hair that dangled in front of her tickled his cheek, the dominant sound of her heartbeat now reverberating in his ears. Were she to be standing, Link distinctly remembered his head reached the top of her rib cage. With her sitting down, it even things out by a head length.

Despite his earlier mood, Link found himself wrapping his arms around Midna's torso, eyes closing as he felt the bottom of her chin rest on his head. It was familiar, warm, and satisfying.

"I missed you." Link relented, a part of him still in denial that she was actually sitting there, cradling him against her.

"I missed you too, you stupid goat herder."

He smiled, content with not asking any more questions. For now, he was fine with things as they were; Midna and himself alone, letting time wash over them as a slow moving river over stone.

Somehow, she was here. That was what mattered.

_Yes._


End file.
